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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25322509">FILE: HUNTED</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowcrestNightingale/pseuds/ShadowcrestNightingale'>ShadowcrestNightingale</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Subconscious Files [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Id:Invaded (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon - Anime, Canon Compliant, Crimes &amp; Criminals, Dream worlds, Gen, Injury Recovery, Manga &amp; Anime, Murder, Murder Mystery, Neurological Disorders, Post-Canon, Prison, Psychological Trauma, Serial Killers, Suicide, Triggers, neurodivergence, sci fi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:35:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>47,368</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25322509</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowcrestNightingale/pseuds/ShadowcrestNightingale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Narihisago and Hondomachi made it out of the id well, but the consequences come tumbling down. Narihisago with the GSW and Momoki suffering broken ribs. Kura stumbles to come back into operation in the aftershocks of the John Walker case. Taking the Wellside reins Momoki directs the first dive following ... no one expects the fallout. How much will he risk to catch this killer? What will it cost Narihisago? This is one savage id well!</p><p> Canon compliant, trying to expand off the world in the same feel, and fill in some gaps. </p><p>MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING: If psychological disorders and suicide are triggers, DO NOT read! ID: Invaded gets heavy into this and I am writing to the feel of the series.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Momoki Funetaro/ Togo Sarina, Narihisago Akihito/ Ayako</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Subconscious Files [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869256</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>208</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>69</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Story intentionally picks up in the middle of the last scene where Narihisago and Hondomachi come out of the final dive. I did grab their dialog and actions--expanding on the latter. But this already written story goes WELL beyond the last extraction scene. This is just the set up as I wanted to explore the consequences of what happened during the final two episodes since they skip ahead. </p><p>I hope you enjoy my take on ID: Invaded.</p><p>Cover art produced by me</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>Narihisago opened his eyes. The screen of the cockpit glowed green against the black panel.</p><p>They were back? They'd been retrieved from the well? Damn … he'd been right to hold out the faint hope for a rescue. How utterly strange it had been knowing himself inside the well … er wells, and a little disorienting now that he wasn't. This was certainly a trip for the books, too bad Momoki had missed out.</p><p>Suddenly the letters blurred. A deep burning spread in his gut. He looked down to find a hole punched in his damp black shirt. Blood welled out continuing to soak into his white Kura prison jumpsuit. This wasn't some surreal mind imagery. He was legit bleeding. His hand clamped across the wound. <em>Shit! That's right, Hayaseura shot me … here in this room before the last dive … gah!</em> Nothing he did eased the pain. He took a moment to catch his breath before looking to the cockpit across the room.</p><p>Hayaseura's blood soaked body slumped behind the screen.</p><p>The sight triggered a white hot wave of anger. <em>Good riddance! </em>The man had been the director—the founder of Kura, and as it turned out, through the most despicable means. Sense of his own justice? That was laughable, if it wouldn't have brought Narihisago to his knees in his current condition. That bastard had been about the sickest most twisted psycho-path he had ever encountered. And as a Mizuhanome pilot Narihisago had wandered around a lot of demented psyches!</p><p>How much time had passed real world since the bullet struck him? Inside the well it had certainly been a wild chase. But if no one was watching maybe time had dilated there, that strange effect he and Hondomachi had experienced out of sync. The burning felt like someone ramming a red hot iron rod straight through him. This wasn't good. He was in trouble. That was a fair amount of his blood no longer in his body. In the wells when there was that much, it usually was the last thing he saw before waking up back in the cockpit. Seeing it here was alarming.</p><p>Hondomachi calmly exited her cockpit and crossed the chamber. He hadn't seen her very long in person before … well, awake anyway. She'd already been trapped in the Mizuhanome when he'd been brought in to help get her back out. By some miracle that fiasco had worked out. In the brief exchange before they dove back in to chase John Walker, because his focus had been on the gun wielding maniac responsible for destroying his life, he hadn't had much time for a good look at her. The confident way she held herself, the way she looked, aside from the clothing which was now the business suit typical to field detectives; almost nothing had changed about her from his experiences inside the wells. She was so steady, almost frighteningly so in this circumstance. The average psyche would be either paralyzed or clawing at the walls about now.</p><p>But not her.</p><p>Proving his point, the guard near the closed door jerked back against the wall as he came to, discovering Fukuda near his feet. He lost more color when he noticed the pool of blood around Hayaseura's cockpit. Certainly the self inflicted gunshots through the abdomen would contribute to that. But the real culprit was the point blank he'd pulled to his own chin. That lined up to sever main arteries. He'd bled out before his finger even relaxed on the trigger. <em>Bastard took the easy way out! At least he'd tried to. Hope he likes prison inside the well. Now that's revenge. His actions landed me in prison in reality, but there's an end here. One day death will release me from confinement in this world. As far as we know Hayaseura's consciousness will remain imprisoned within the Mizuhanome indefinitely. Serves his ass right. </em></p><p>Hondomachi glanced at the guard and waved a dismissive hand as she came to Fukuda's side. “Calm down. Just go get the medics.”</p><p>The guard scrambled out of the door. Usually things weren't quite this exciting outside of the id wells. Poor guy. Narihisago knew him, Soma was one of the nicer, more considerate guards.</p><p>She pressed her fingers against Fukuda's neck and tried to wake him. There was no response, not even a stirring. But he wasn't dead. A slow rise and fall of his back proved something was hanging on. He just couldn't reach the surface anymore. Well, that was Narihisago's working theory anyway. Today had held a lot of firsts into whole new uncharted territory. That explained his level of exhaustion. Amazing how much stamina sitting in this chair took.</p><p>Narihisago leaned forward in the cockpit. The pain intensified as he engaged the punctured muscles. The bullet was deep. The back of the seat behind him devoid of blood. It hadn't gone through. That had to be why he hadn't bled out more. The bullet blocked some of the blood flow. Putting more pressure on his stomach, hot blood trickled over his fingers. But his eyes settled on Hondomachi crouched by Fukuda's side. That man had threatened to kill her, and yet the angle of her shoulders spoke of grief. In the well they had both stood over Fukuda's fallen body … in the well he had saved her, taken a bullet in the back. But his words certainly explained why Narihisago hadn't felt the hard drive to push Fukuda to the final end, his own drive to drill the holes had been to fix … to save people, not necessarily to outright kill them. Messed up? Well yeah, there was no denying that.</p><p>Regretfully, without a button there was no way to extract Fukuda's consciousness, if it even existed after dying in the well. He hadn't arrived through the cockpit as Anaido. Narihisago closed his eyes, she had asked if those who died there would wake here. Earnest hope in her voice … for the fate of a serial killer. How had she forgiven Fukuda for threatening her life … for altering it so drastically? There was no way she didn't have some damage to her neural pathways. She had a hole drilled through her head thanks to his threat, … well, he'd held the drill, she'd shocked him by ramming her head into it herself. Who does that? “Hondomachi.”</p><p>Not facing him, she shook her head and drew her hand across her face. He surmised that she wiped tears from her eyes.</p><p>Narihisago gripped the metal plates that formed the armrest of the cockpit. He longed to cross the room, but every motion hurt worse. He didn't dare stand up. “It's ok.” He called out softly, “You're allowed to cry, you know.” No one had ever said that to him. He wished they had … but that bridge had long since passed.</p><p>Hondomachi turned toward him, a faint smile on her face. “Yeah. That's really all I needed. One tear is perfect for him.” Standing up, she tugged her suit jacket down.</p><p>A tiny chink in the numbed state he'd been locked behind for so long, a sad smile grew as he met her tranquil eyes. How could she stand there so damn calmly after what had happened? “You're right.”</p><p>When he closed his eyes for a moment Muku's voice called out to him from his memory in the well … he trembled. <em>Oh God, when she had lived</em> … when he had taken her place against the Challenger, when he had protected his family instead of missing the damn clues. <em>“You are coming home. Aren't you, Dad?”</em></p><p>He replied aloud knowing she'd never hear him, “I am.” That moment was all gone. He'd never have it again … save for memories. That was the extent of his world now, had been for years. Memories. His head hung as Hondomachi eased under his left arm, placing it over her neck and shoulder. She was surprisingly strong. Or maybe he was weaker than he thought. Warmth spread beneath his hand.</p><p>Lightheaded, the distraction pulled him deeper, Narihisago bowed his head calling forth their faces. Ayako and Muku, his wife and daughter smiling beside him … alive in the same world, as they had been—three years ago. “One day I'll be with them again. But … not today.”</p><p>Hondomachi paused and eyed him, her jaw loose.</p><p>Smiling down at her, he met her gaze with dry eyes. The tears he had shed for the life he'd been denied were back in the well within a well … when he'd said his farewell to his family. “Sometimes it's good to run out of tears.” He took a staggered step, his weight precarious on his feet.</p><p>She let him set the pace. He took another, his breathing growing shallower, a strange numbness taking over.</p><p>The door slid open revealing the frantic guard accompanied by a medic on the other side.</p><p>“Good, you're here.” She glanced up just in time. His eyes rolled back. “Narihisago?”</p><p>He tried to fight it, but there was nothing left to halt it … the world swirled. The air was thin, too thin. His body lost tension spilling him to the floor, the only thing that slowed that plummet was her effort beneath him. His consciousness flagged.</p><p>
  <em>Is this what it's like to really die? I've been shot hundreds of times in id wells before. It was never like this. The motion was up, not down. Oh, this is so confusing.</em>
</p><p>The medic's hand against his wrist forged a short tether to the world. He wasn't out cold—not yet. His eyes fluttered open catching snatches of blurred light. A voice nearby called out, “Hey, back there in that cockpit, was that where he was? Is that blood all his?”</p><p>“Yes.” She answered swiftly, her small hand pressed on his shoulder.</p><p>“Oh dear. That's not encouraging.”</p><p>A familiar voice crackled over the room speaker … female … the assistant Wellside director. She had a name … oh yes, Togo. <em>“Hondomachi, what's going on?”</em></p><p>“It's Narihisago. Hayaseura shot him before we went back into the well to chase him down.”</p><p>“<em>What? He dove with a gunshot wound? What was he thinking!”</em></p><p>“Look there's a lot to explain, but as long as the theories were correct, we trapped John Walker. That's all you need to know at the moment. Right now Narihisago's in trouble. The medic's on it.” Her voice came closer to his ear. “Hey, you hear me? Hang on in there.”</p><p>
  <em>I hear you. I just can't respond. I can't even open my eyes now.</em>
</p><p>The medic stuck something into his arm, it pricked and stung. “He's going into shock from blood loss. Have to get him to surgery quick before he bleeds out.”</p><p><em>Oh? Is that what's going on? That's ok … I mean … I'd done it … I'd said I'd get John Walker if it killed me. Well … here we are. </em>Things were growing heavier. Harder to breathe. He faintly felt a mask … the flow of oxygen against his nose and half open mouth. But everything was a world away. Unreachable, slipping from his grasp. Kinda like being extracted from a well … only the other direction. Pulled ever downward.</p><p>“Narihisago. Hold on!” Hondomachi's voice was just a faint echo.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everything felt wrong … now that was a familiar sensation. Narihisago lay on his back, but this was not the right angle for the cockpit. Too flat. His mind waded through a swampy mire trying to orient himself. Something was bogging that down … thinking, that was the word he was looking for.</p><p>
  <em>Wait … I know my own name … this isn't a dive into a well. Where am I? Why is it so hard to focus?</em>
</p><p>He tried to rub his forehead. Something stopped his wrist from moving at his side. <em>Odd.</em> He tried the other only to experience the same damn sensation. Something hard encircled his wrists. Cracking open his eyes he stared at the ceiling. This was not his prison cell. It was a ceiling he had never seen before. Lifting his head took effort. That effort triggered a chain reaction. His gut screamed in protest.</p><p>Narihisago laid his head back and winced, letting the wave abate before he tried a new tactic. Rolling his head a bit he managed to glance down enough to catch sight of the side rails of a hospital bed. A set of typical chain cuffs locked his left wrist to the railing. Soft, steady beeps emitted from a monitor off to his side. Wrapped in a bandage to keep it in place, an IV punctured his forearm. His nose wrinkled, something wedged beneath it. A nasal cannula … at least he thought that's what that device was called, fed oxygen into his nose. That was an annoying sensation.</p><p>Thoughts moved at a snail's pace. No, everything did. When he blinked it took too long.</p><p>“Welcome back.” That voice came from beside him, out of his field of vision.</p><p>He turned his head sluggishly and discovered Momoki sitting in a motorized wheelchair dressed in a hospital wrap shirt and pants. Bandages peeked through the gap in the crossover. His chest? What had happened to him? His color seemed a bit pale.</p><p>Narihisago glanced at his own skin tone from beneath the blue hospital shirt sleeve. <em>Shit, I'm really pale too.</em></p><p>“Good to see you awake.” Momoki's voice lacked the rigid force it usually had. Softer, almost a rasp. <em>Broken ribs?</em> “The surgeon said it might take a while after the blood transfusion. You'd come too before in post surgery recovery, but that didn't last when the pain meds hit. How you feeling?”</p><p><em>How <b>am</b> I feeling?</em> The wheels turned slowly, a machine without lubricant. He looked around the stark hospital room. His eyes caught the large window … blinds turned so the sunlight poured through. Sunlight! Outside the city spread in a colorful display. The city! Three years had passed on by since he had last seen it. The outside world captivated his attention entirely. It was easy to forget there was anything outside the small cell he was confined to in Kura's maximum security prison. Of course he did glimpse some of the real world through the id wells of the serial killers, but that was filtered, warped, surreal. His own eyes glimpsed reality for the first time in what felt like … forever.</p><p>“Narihisago?”</p><p>He forced his gaze from the rare sight. The motion shifted his gut. He winced. “Sore … to answer your question. But that makes sense now that I remember what happened.”</p><p>Momoki relaxed his tight grip on the arms of his wheelchair. “Good, you at least remembered. I was worried when you spaced out there.”</p><p>He glanced at the window. “The change in view is nice. Though I'm not thrilled with how I got here.”</p><p>Shifting his eyes to the window, Momoki's smile grew somber.</p><p>Narihisago shifted his wrist, annoyed at the tug of the cuffs. He wanted to reach out but they prevented it. With a sigh he aborted the attempt.</p><p>“Protocol. Sorry about the restraints.”</p><p>“Don't be.” He shut his eyes. “They're necessary. I can't argue about that. Even I don't know what I'll do when the urge obliterates my ability to reason. Why would you possibly trust me?” Shifting again he hissed at the complaint from his core. “Shit! Almost dying in real life sucks. You worry about the well deaths? Hah, they're nothing. Quick pull like a bandaid and it's over after reorienting. It's not like this … nagging pain. I can't move without making it worse.” The pain had one main effect, he was definitely awake now. Though as usual his voice lacked energy. Even to his own ears he sounded drained.</p><p>Momoki studied him. “They said you needed to lie still.”</p><p>“Sound advice. Not so simple in practice. Seems like it was near my diaphragm. Hrm... ouch! Yeah. Definitely near that area.” He took a few slow breaths. “You know Momoki, don't think I'll be up to diving for a bit. You better hope the killers keep things to a minimum while I'm down for the count here.”</p><p>Cracking half a grin, Momoki cupped his ribs, now it was obvious there was a brace around them. “You and me both. I'm set to be here for a while too.”</p><p>“Fractures?”</p><p>“For once I didn't stand near the safety of the Wellside. Had to get involved in the field. Got a bit messy.” Momoki eyed him. “How'd you guess?”</p><p>“Raspy breathing. At least that's my id well experience with it.”</p><p>“You know it's disturbing how frank you are about that.”</p><p>Narihisago shrugged a shoulder taking care not to jostle his bandaged gut. “You go through it enough and it's no big deal. Now … bleeding out in real life, that's another story. I can't say I liked the feeling of the room shifting … kind of similar to when gravity doesn't obey the right rules. It's disconcerting.”</p><p>“Wait … you remember losing consciousness?”</p><p>“Yeah. So? What of it?”</p><p>Momoki rubbed his chin. “Narihisago, that's not normal.”</p><p>He rolled his head back to staring at the ceiling. “What about me <em>is </em>normal? Seriously … chalk it up to recalling the deaths within the dives. My memory doesn't check out for that part either—unfortunately.”</p><p>“I suppose … I just didn't expect it.”</p><p>“Never had a course to test it by. Hope we don't again.” He accidentally shifted and winced. “Ok … I get the picture the pain meds are wearing off.”</p><p>Momoki pushed the control on his chair and moved closer. “You alright?”</p><p>“Yeah, more or less. Just feeling it more. That sucker punched deep.”</p><p>A high-pitched voice called out from the hallway. “Here it is. Room number 652.” The door opened and Hondomachi bounded in gesturing to Momoki. “See? I told you this is where he would be. But you didn't believe me.”</p><p>Matsuoka rigidly strode in behind her, his left arm still in a sling. He glanced at Narihisago held captive in the bed before hastily averting his eyes. His jaw tight as he grunted.</p><p>On the same side of the bed as Momoki, Hondomachi pulled up a chair and smiled. “Momoki you're looking better. When do you get to go home?”</p><p>That question unexpectedly stung a bit, Narihisago twisted his wrist in the cuffs.</p><p>She caught the motion, and the clear surprise on Momoki's face. “Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to … uhh, hi Narihisago. Good to see you up … err, awake.”</p><p>“Hey.” He muttered, not wanting to look her way for the moment. The pain meds were seriously messing with everything … the protective numbness … pierced. The bitter reminder that once he was stable and released from here it would be back to the monotony of confinement in his cell again, for who knew how long. No … he knew that answer. The rest of his life. He'd only have the precious photographs to cling to. Momoki tried so hard to scrounge up every last one of his family possible … they were a blessing and a bane … a tether and a torturous reminder to an existence he'd been denied. He sought the window once more, desperate to burn that image into his retinas so he would never forget again.</p><p>She touched his hand. “Narihisago?”</p><p>At the contact he threw a surprised stare her way. <em>She's touching me … on purpose? No one touches me. Hell, the guards even try to avoid it as much as possible. </em></p><p>“I thought you'd want to know. Fukuda hasn't woken up yet. He's still in a coma. They don't know when he'll wake up.”</p><p>“We're here to visit Momoki.” Matsuoka tossed her a glare thrusting a finger at Narihisago. “Why would <b>he</b> care about that? I'm sure all he wanted to do was push him to suicide like he did to those five others.”</p><p>Narihisago ignored the rebuke, after all that wasn't true. Fukuda had been an annoying neighbor in the cell block, but he'd never felt that uncontrollable urge to dissect his psyche. Instead, Narihisago focused on her words and that peculiar sense of empathy she expressed. “Shame. Considering how much we owe Fukuda for the success. There's no other well I knew of where we could have pulled that deception off. The subconscious doesn't lie.”</p><p>That earned a lifted eyebrow from Matsuoka.</p><p>“I can't believe you thought of that after you heard me with Fukuda.” Hondomachi cupped the hole in her forehead. “I wish he could have seen it too.”</p><p>
  <em>Holes in their heads, the two of them shared the ability to see the missing pieces. It had been a damn lucky guess that she'd be able to see the cockpit within the fractured world in time. Without her, I couldn't have done it. Without Fukuda, we wouldn't have navigated through the well storms in the first place.</em>
</p><p>“Lucky for us some of the data automatically recorded in the system.” Momoki bowed his head. “Thanks to that I was able to prove my innocence and clear my name. I've been reinstated as Wellside Director, ehh, upon clearance to return to duty, that is. I heard Hayaseura's confession had a lot to do with that. Togo showed me all the data we collected. You two … I just can't believe what transpired in there.”</p><p>With a bitter smile, Narihisago shook his head. “Shame it doesn't change a damn thing for my case. Sure, we now know, and can even prove that Hayaseura was behind it … that he used Asukai's ability to somehow subconsciously mind-fuck me into pulling that trigger years ago. But I guess it really doesn't matter. The damage is done. It's too ingrained for me to change now.”</p><p>Momoki rubbed his chin. “Wait a second … I didn't tell you about Kiki Asukai. How did you … ”</p><p>Twisting in her chair Hondomachi pointed at him. “Oh I bet know! When we were in the well within the well! I ran across Narihisago after he'd been in there for two years. That personal business you mentioned?”</p><p>“Damn, you are a sharp one.” Narihisago cocked an eyebrow. “Momoki, where did you guys find her? Yeah, in that well I met Kiki Asukai in the hospital. I was recovering from a fist fight I'd goaded the Challenger into before he could get his hands on my Muku. Since in that scenario Momoki used my injuries to argue for a self-defense plea, I got off alright. Took advantage of a do-over and spent a good amount of time off the books hunting down and ending the serial killers that plagued her dreams … or rather nightmares. Now I figured that wasn't a coincidence she looked just like Kaeru. It was no vast leap of logic that she is connected.”</p><p>Flexing a fist, Matsuoka muttered, “You really are a twisted piece of shit. Even the appearance of a second chance and you still became a serial killer! Did you push them into suicide there too?”</p><p>He looked away from the force of that remark. He hadn't even stopped to think of what he'd done … the results had been the same just through a different chain of events. One set as the incarcerated pariah of the force … and one as an outwardly respectable detective proud of his covert operation.</p><p>“I knew it! That's a part of you!”</p><p>Momoki and Hondomachi stared up at the disgruntled field analyst. The chair slid back as Hondomachi forcefully stood up. “Seriously? You have to start with that <b>again </b>after he was instrumental in saving everyone and getting Kura back? John Walker is locked in an inescapable prison because Narihisago didn't hesitate to dive in even with a bleeding hole in him! And you have no idea, you didn't see the pain in his eyes when he had to tell his wife and daughter goodbye in there.”</p><p>Momoki gasped a breath before wincing from the irritation it caused. Once he could manage it, he studied Narihisago with trembling eyes. “What? You … ?”</p><p>He shut his eyes tight. Tears threatened, but didn't quite come. “Yeah … I kind of got caught up in that well … the uhh time dilation and all. Convinced myself that was reality and this was all a long and terrible dream. Until we ran across each other en route to intercept the Perforator … Fukuda. The well started to break down at that point. But … ” his voice trembled, he found it harder to breathe, “I had that time … two years of truly living with them again. Time I had lost … and never thought I'd have again. Until … I had too … but here I never could … say goodbye. There hadn't been a chance. They were taken too fast.”</p><p>Matsuoka jabbed a finger, “Regulations dictat—”</p><p>Narihisago threw Matsuoka a silencing glare. For a brief flicker, from some unknown source he could rarely reach, he managed to summon a bit of fiery spirit. It wouldn't last, so he clung to it like a shipwreck survivor. “Don't go there! And don't give me that crap about procedures. I know why you're still pissed at me and you can stuff it, boy scout. Under the circumstances, you would have gone rogue too.”</p><p>“Bullshit!”</p><p>He glanced as the edge of Matsuoka's jacket shifted and revealed the grip of a service pistol. “Really? So Mr. By-the-damn-book has become a hypocrite. What are you doing with a firearm, field analyst?”</p><p>Matsuoka shifted to cover it. “None of your business.”</p><p>He gave a crooked grin. “You know, I overhear a lot in the cockpit between dives when people forget to turn the mics off—an extremely common occurrence. Besides, back when we were detectives I know you hated my methods. I saw you sulk every time I nailed a case shut. You should be thrilled I am stuck where I am now, out of direct competition with you.”</p><p>“Shut up!”</p><p>“That's it. It's because once more I'm laying the groundwork you can't. You seriously couldn't stand it.”</p><p>“What I can't stand is a cold-blooded killer!”</p><p>Momoki held up a hand. “Knock it off! Matsuoka, stop riling him up. Narihisago, you're supposed to remain calm.”</p><p>“Tsss.” Narihisago rolled his eyes. But inside he realized how close he'd come to reaching a raw nerve. Docile was better. He didn't <em>want</em> to hurt anyone. The cold numbing wrap insulating him from emotions was better than the searing anguish when he touched them. Only one thing gave him pleasure now … and he knew how much trouble that weakness caused. Momoki was right, at his core he knew he was only supposed to identify the killers … not push them into executing themselves. Which meant Matsuoka was also right … he really was a sick, twisted bastard.</p><p>Shaking her head, Hondomachi stuck out her chin at Matsuoka. “It's really pathetic you can't give him credit for what he does to help us out. You've never been in the wells, never experienced what we have. It's far from an easy task. How many killers has he helped <b>you</b> find?”</p><p>The field analyst tensed and looked away, schooled by a woman half his age. His voice forced. “You don't understand what he was like as a detective, rookie. You barely know the guy.”</p><p>“Really?” Hondomachi placed a finger to her lips and smiled. “I've been in two of his id wells.”</p><p>Narihisago smirked. “I'd say she knows me better than you after that.”</p><p>That silenced Matsuoka. He turned away grinding his teeth.</p><p>“That reminds me.” Momoki interrupted, narrowing his eyes at Narihisago. “I wanted to ask you about something … your thoughts on the changes over the years. There was such a drastic difference in the landscapes.”</p><p>“Wait … you want me to analyze myself? That's cold. Come on, Momoki, you pulled me from regular prison to be a pilot, not one of your analysts. Let's not play with illusions. I'm not a true homicide detective any longer. That ended the moment I unloaded my mag into the Challenger.”</p><p>“Wrong.” He kept his stare level. “I pulled you from rotting in prison because I didn't want to waste your analytical mind. There isn't anyone I know who can rival your intuition.” He held up a hand. “Narihisago, I don't tell you everything and yet when we regularly talk in the chamber or interrogation room you're constantly making connections faster than I lay things out, frequently building off what the team deduced in the Wellside while you couldn't have overheard them because you were locked off as Sakaido at that time. No matter your doubts, you still have it in you. So, humor me.”</p><p>“You really think so? Fine.” He blinked slowly, recalling the two significant wells. “I wouldn't say it was drastic when you really compare them, actually.”</p><p>“In three years you went from lightning strikes on the number tiles precisely tracking time intervals utilizing a derivation of pi, insanely accurate according to Wakashika … ”</p><p>“A constant that is everywhere in the universe, and elemental in the circumference.”</p><p>He continued, reiterating, “ … in three years that changed to a timeless, perpetually desolate desert.”</p><p>Narihisago nodded. “Well yeah, the symbolism makes sense when you think about it. Line it all up to the events in reality. The first was an active drive, overwhelmed and targeting innocent lives connected to me at seemingly random. Inevitably the fallout would strike every tile and obliterate all I had ever known and loved as collateral damage. The latter was passive and taking any who set foot into it after my years spent incarcerated. The main driving force is wearing down by external elements, at the mercy of the inescapable fate. But the key falls along one other rather difficult to ignore element.” He stared Momoki in the eyes. “Not just Kaeru, but my corpse present inside both wells. We've found a statistical fraction of killers who manifest themselves in their desire to kill. However, usually alive. In the first I'd been struck by my own lightning bolt, the second a victim to the quick sand … which isn't so quick, actually, since I've experienced that now. There's a sense of poetry to it all. That's really the only surprising part. I didn't think I possessed that much imagination.”</p><p>Beside him. Hondomachi cracked half a grin, when she opened her mouth to say something, Narihisago held up a hand as much as the handcuff would allow. It clanked as he let his hand fall back to his side.</p><p>Momoki scratched his head. Slowly his eyes opened a bit wider, evidence of the revelation.</p><p>“Come on. We've known it all along.” Narihisago's tone was flat, emotionless again. Even he felt it. “And frankly both explain a lot. Since the day I pulled the trigger I've always felt dead inside. Witnessing that only confirmed my suspicion.”</p><p>“No. It's not true.”</p><p>He shook his head. His eyes taking a bit longer to reopen. Things were feeling increasingly heavier. “The subconscious is incapable of truly lying. I've seen the proof with my own eyes … in both as my own conscious identity. As I said before … there's no going back. I have no life within me now … ”</p><p>Momoki's hands gripped the armrests of his wheelchair. “I refuse to believe that.”</p><p>Narihisago's eyelids grew heavier, a weight dragging him downward. Even to his ears he heard the strange slurring affecting his speech. “Face it … I'll never make it out of the night.” That was an odd thing to say, even to him. Was it from a poem or something? He had been an avid reader before, so it was possible. But there was no chance to explore the thought. His eyes wouldn't reopen as he sunk down into oblivion.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Momoki tried to lean forward and regretted it. The brace around his chest keeping his ribs straight prevented it. Narihisago's rapid decline worried him, the way he'd slurred before blacking out.</p><p>The door opened and a nurse walked in with a tray in his hands. He peered at the monitor and grinned. “Right on time. Good. Don't worry. It's just the morphine nailing him. He's on a pretty hefty dose that's supposed to help him sleep. That was intended. You can all stay if you want, I just have a couple of things to do while he's out.”</p><p>Heaving a sigh of relief, Momoki relaxed back into his wheelchair. “I was worried for a moment.”</p><p>The nurse tugged the covers down and untied the hospital shirt, laying it open to reveal the thick compression bandages around Narihisago's abdomen. He took a pair of scissors and cut one side letting it fall open. A rubber drainage tube stuck out of the suture a couple finger's width below his sternum. Prepping a syringe with fluid, the nurse hummed a bit before flushing the drainage tube onto a folded wad of bandaging, examining the discharge. “Ahh good, no sign of sepsis so far. He's lucky.”</p><p>“Sepsis?”</p><p>“Mmm hmm. That bullet had quite the trip, but it mostly nicked intestines. Heard that was quite the clean up job in the OR. Another inch or so deeper and he would have been a paraplegic. He's lucky we got him into surgery so quick.” The nurse tugged the old bandage out of the way. Another nurse came in and helped redress the incision. They made short work of re-wrapping his abdomen with a fair amount of pressure. Momoki was relieved he wasn't awake for that as they jostled him.</p><p>Hondomachi leaned forward, watching the vitals on the screen along with Momoki. They were stable, if a bit subdued now that he was out again. “Hey, how long is he going to be here?”</p><p>“Why do you need to know?” Matsuoka remarked.</p><p>“Oh, you're still here?” She threw a disinterested look over her shoulder. “Because I care and want to visit. I'm not a child, stop telling me who I can be friends with.”</p><p>“He's a prisoner.”</p><p>“So.”</p><p>The nurse politely waited for them to pause before answering as he secured the bandage. “He'll be here at least till that drain comes out. With the depth of the GSW, ehh, it'll be a while. My guess, roughly two weeks before we release him.”</p><p>Momoki stared at the window. He pushed the lever on his wheelchair over to the pull for the blinds and tugged it all the way up. “Do him a favor. Leave these open for him.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nori Soma tugged the brim of his guard cap down. Already he had a strange vibe from he new guy, as Michio Hagashi glanced at the Kura badge on his new uniform after his transfer and made a face that didn't exactly speak of pride. True, in the weeks following the incident the whole place went to organizational hell. No one knew what to do. The non-comatose staff staggered through a situation no one had imagined, let alone written a protocol for. The depleted number of guards hadn't been an immediate problem, the bulk of the prisoners had been reduced to comas and were in the medical unit—along with a percentage of the staff. They'd had no choice but to hastily vet in new staff, shortcuts had clearly been taken.</p><p>Kura's cell blocks were no gravy post. Serial killers were not known to be … particularly cooperative. One slip up, and well … that isn't what had happened, but still. Soma knew how critical protocol was down here as well as a healthy respect for what they were dealing with. Hagashi looked to him like a guard with a chip on his shoulder. Not the optimum choice for these halls. Soma had asked HR more than once if all the new recruits had understood the nature of the NDA they signed … that and how much he was allowed to talk about what happened a couple weeks back. He wasn't fond of either answer.</p><p>“So.” Hagashi rocked back and forth on his heels. “These are Kura's cell blocks.”</p><p>Soma nodded. “There are several blocks spreading out from the central desk where we can keep an eye on things through the security cameras. Remember, never interact with a prisoner alone, always have backup. And inmates are to have their wrists cuffed prior to exiting their cell. Outside the cell they are to wear the restraints at all times. Period. With one exception, and that is for the pilots once seated inside the Mizuhanome chamber.”</p><p>Laughing, Hagashi slaughtered the word. “What a strange name. Is that what this place is all about? I mean I heard you guys use some whack method to catch the bad guys.”</p><p>“We have a purpose here. And the system works.” … <em>when something doesn't go horrifically wrong.</em></p><p>The two turned from one cell block and walked through the mostly vacant one, their shoes clacking on the floor. With fewer prisoners it was too quiet here. Hagashi tugged on his belt. “Sheesh, you know, in a way it must be nice in here. Being put up, food provided, no bills, no responsibility, don't have to do a damn thing. What a life.”</p><p>Soma eyed him. “What life? Step inside.” He pointed to an empty cell and waited for Hagashi to wander through and look around. He seemed unimpressed by the bare walls, concrete with white sound dampening panels. There was nothing in there save for a bed waiting for an occupant, a sink, a mirror, and a toilet behind a privacy screen. Since there were cameras everywhere for monitoring and the fourth wall with the door was a clear shatterproof pane, the prisoners had next to no privacy.</p><p>After a long moment of wandering around the cell, Hagashi turned and stared at Soma. “Ok … what?”</p><p>“Imagine this is all you ever see. Twenty-four seven. Three-hundred-sixty-five days a year. Now tell me <em>this is the life</em> and mean it.”</p><p>Hagashi attempted to hide his discomfort by pulling his cap down, but it was too late. Soma caught it as he exited the cell.</p><p>“This is no resort stay for the inmates stuck in here. It's a monotonous limbo.”</p><p>“Heh, you sound like you know.”</p><p>They continued to walk along further down the short rows of cells, Soma nodded toward the dead end of the corridor. “I've gotten a perspective or two over the first year of Kura's operation.” And the one who gave him that was the inmate who had been here the longest. The guy in the next cell coming into view off to their left.</p><p>Hagashi blinked and took a step back. “Hey, is this that monster everyone was talking about in orientation… that ex-cop who flew off the handle big time … what was the name? Started with an N, I think.”</p><p>At the word 'monster' Soma's eyes narrowed. “Akihito Narihisago. And to be honest he's usually one of the more cooperative inmates here.”</p><p>Inside the cell, Narihisago lay on his side, sound asleep in the middle of the day, which was highly unusual for him. The corner of his shirt untucked, it revealed a peek at the thick bandages underneath. He hadn't been back here long, just yesterday in fact. By the looks of things, the medics had been in there on the last rotation tending his gun shot wound. Since he frequently exhibited insomnia, and was out this deep, Soma suspected they had given him another wallop of a dose of painkillers.</p><p>Soma shivered for a moment at the memories of waking up in the pilot chamber weeks ago. Blood everywhere. Before he'd blacked out into a strange surreal dream, Soma had witnessed Director Hayaseura's heinous actions, including when he had calmly pulled the trigger on Narihisago while fully admitting that he had destroyed the ex-officer's life. More than one night's sleep had been obliterated by that memory. He was glad to see that Narihisago had pulled through the ordeal. That wasn't the first time the guy had been carried from the chamber. But certainly the only time dripping with blood.</p><p>Hagashi rocked on his heels as they stood outside of Narihisago's cell. “Heh, as I hear it, the <b>real </b>stories are from when he isn't so cooperative. Word has it the nut is about as stable as a one legged stool. When he goes off, someone gets hurt.”</p><p>Burying his head in his hand, Soma knew he'd have to bother the new acting director about the mouths of the guards. Warnings were needed, but seriously? “You were given the list of topics not to bring up around him, right?”</p><p>Hagashi lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “Yeah. Those chicks in the phot—”</p><p>“Don't bring 'em up and you'll be fine. If you need something from him, ask. Under most circumstances he is compliant if you don't push him. Narihisago was recruited for this project for a reason, and in general the Wellside staff prefers him in working condition.”</p><p>“Not like now. What's wrong with him?”</p><p>
  <em>Remember the cover story. Those coming on don't get the full details. </em>
  <span>“He was shot during the recent infiltration.” </span>
</p><p>“Don't see any holes.” Hagashi ran his hand over the pane enclosing Narihisago, who fortunately was still out cold on his bed unable to hear any of this.</p><p>“He wasn't in his cell when it happened. He'd been doing his job.”</p><p>Hagashi backed up and rubbed his chin. “Oh yeah, in that machine thingy. This guy's the tool.”</p><p>In his gut Soma tensed. “You might want to show a bit more respect. I know he's a prisoner, but he's also one of the most successful pilots. What he does for Kura is critical.”</p><p>“Which part?” Hagashi crossed his arms. “Bringing the killers in? Or talking them to death?”</p><p>
  <em>Shit! Who told him that?</em>
</p><p>“Damn, now that is amazing when you see the layout. There's no way he could reach the others behind the panes, and yet in just a year he's talked five fellow inmates into suicide. Talk about twisted population control.”</p><p>Soma gritted his teeth.</p><p>Hagashi took a step back, eyes flashing wide. “Ho-ly shit! It's true? I thought the guard was pulling my leg when he spouted off about that.”</p><p>“Yeah. That's true. He did it, and spent stints in solitary for it too. Not that it did any good. Honestly get the feeling he can't stop himself from doing it.”</p><p>“That's pretty darn savage. I mean the guy's a serial killer himself, where does he get off guilt-tripping others just like him?”</p><p>Soma shook his head. “That's where you're wrong. He isn't like them at all.”</p><p>“Oh, come on, you telling me that he isn't unhinged?”</p><p>“I never said he wasn't. There is no arguing he's psychotic. But the fact is, he knows he is. And he knows why, not that it changes the end result.”</p><p>“Hey,” he pointed into the cell, “noticed that he's not exactly in prison uniform. The others just have the white jumpsuit. What's with the black t-shirt?”</p><p>
  <em>Good, off the bad habit of his. </em>
  <span>“A necessity for his job. Trust me, the first time you fetch him from the cockpit you'll understand why.”</span>
</p><p>Hagashi scratched his head.</p><p>Soma turned to walk back down the cell block, leaving Narihisago in some semblance of peace. “He may have just been sitting in the cockpit, but even after just a few hours he'll be drenched in sweat. What he does in there is anything but easy.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Akihito.”</p><p>It was a whisper in his ear. Breath stirred his hair. No … not breath, a gentle breeze. He opened his eyes to the bright sunlight shimmering through a tree canopy. A butterfly lazily fluttered overhead. Narihisago sat up, his hands planted on a blue checkered blanket spread out on the grass. A picnic lunch laid out around him. In the distance Muku ran in the verdant field dappled with wild flowers launching a kite, the wind caught it and carried it into the blue sky. The butterfly followed it, the tiny colorful body drifting up only to vanish against the scudding clouds.</p><p>A soft hand touched his shoulder, fingertips brushing his neck. He turned to find Ayako smiling up at him, her hand rubbing the nape of his neck. “Ohh Aki, you were snoring. Why didn't you tell me you were tired? We could have done this tomorrow after a good night's sleep.”</p><p>Heat rose to his cheeks. “I uhh … no. Heh heh, it's ok. I'll manage.”</p><p>“Manage?” She giggled into her hand.</p><p>“Tsh! I didn't mean it like that. It's … I <em>really</em> want to be here today. We promised Muku … ” His babbling ceased and he smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder. His turn to run fingers through her hair. Silken. The scent of cherry blossoms rose into the air. He savored the warmth of her embrace. “It was a rough shift, that's all. I promise, I'll stay awake.”</p><p>“You better Akihito Narihisago.”</p><p>He closed his eyes, holding her tight.</p><p>“Narihisago … Narihisago … ” the voice changed behind his closed eyes, dropping in register.</p><p>“Narihisago! Wake up!”</p><p>His eyes shot open with a start. Dark room. The dim spread of photos lining the white wall of the sound dampening panels of his concrete cell. It came to him slowly, there would be three concrete walls and a clear shatterproof one contained him nearly twenty-four seven. His right wrist lay on the pillow, a white band secured around it. Significant. Very significant. The damning thing housed a little device that amplified the signal making it easier pull the data from the bio-chip they'd inserted deep into the flesh between the radius and ulna. It bore everything; his identification, a remote tracker in case he ever decided to bolt, it could even sense and relay his vitals real time. He swallowed, knowing what else it could broadcast. What he done and why he was incarcerated. Deep under the skin, nestled beneath vital structures, the chip couldn't be removed except by a very skilled surgeon. He knew … he had witnessed a prisoner try.</p><p>“I saw that. You can't fool me, you're awake.” One of the Kura guards barked, a fair distance behind his back.</p><p>Still a bit disoriented, he rolled enough to glance over his left shoulder. The motion tugged on his torso, reminding him of the still healing gun shot wound. Curling onto his right side, still facing the wall, he took a few shaky breaths.</p><p>“Come on, get your ass up.” Most of the guards had been a bit more on edge after the incident. Not shocking considering many of them in the building at that time had been deposited into the various id wells within the system. Some had witnessed teammates meet a grizzly end only to come out and discover them in comas. From what Narihisago gathered from the talk none of those had woken yet. He doubted they ever would.</p><p>Stiffly, Narihisago rolled onto his back and pushed up, running a hand through his hair. Groggy. That was the right word. He was groggy, and it took way to much effort to pull the right word. Then again, he <em>rarely</em> slept that deep and clawing his way up from that proved taxing.</p><p>The guard standing beside his partner, as they never interacted with the prisoners alone, tapped the clear barrier. “Don't make us come in there.”</p><p><em>What do they think I am? A lazy teenager? </em>Narihisago shifted to the side of his bed gingerly, one arm supporting his bandaged gut. His other elbow rested on his knee catching his forehead as he took a few breaths. Wearily he muttered, “Don't get your trousers in a bunch. It's the middle of the damn night. I need a minute.”</p><p>Slipping his shoes on, he shuffled across the floor and held his wrists forward as the door panel slid back.</p><p>The guard snapped the rigid cuffs on a little too snug before gesturing for him to go ahead. “You know the way. Get a move on.”</p><p>He bowed his head, still half asleep. True, he could probably sleep walk to the Mizuhanome's cockpit chamber by now, having done it enough. Hell, his real world existed of such few paths. His cell, that chamber, the interrogation room … oh, and solitary. That was all his real eyes ever saw over the past year.</p><p>The steel door opened, the chamber bathed in a white light. Across the room the immense black metallic cockpit seemed to suck in all the light, a virtual black hole. Maybe it was just the way the dark arms swept around the seat, the overhead display encapsulated it all. Maybe it reminded him of that because falling into the id wells felt akin to what he imagined a black hole's grip would be like.</p><p>Damn, he'd had too many surreal experiences in this machine.</p><p>Odd. Considering what happened the last time he'd been here, he really thought there might be some kind of residual … something. But he was just … numb. That part couldn't have been more normal for him. He closed his eyes … the vast timeless desert. Yeah, it made sense.</p><p>He crossed the room and sat down in the cockpit chair. The guard grabbed his wrists and stripped off the cuffs backing up to the door. “Hey Director, he's here. Sorry it took so long but <b>someone </b>was dragging his feet.”</p><p>Momoki's voice crackled over the speaker, the tone all business. <em>“Narihisago, were you awake like usual?”</em></p><p>Leaning back in the chair he hoped would ease the ache in his gut. The regular doses of whatever they were giving him for the pain worked to bank the worst of it. But in his core he still felt whenever he moved how deep the bullet had penetrated … here, in this chamber, right beside a cockpit. Still … nothing, no emotion. No surge in heart rate, no cold sweat. Had he truly become <em>that</em> numb of a bastard? He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He'd never seen the arrangement of the building, but he had a feeling that was where they stood at what they called the Wellside, in the floor above this cement chamber. He summoned up as much energy as he could muster and it was still little more than a weary grumble. “No. I was actually sleeping for once.”</p><p>The reply came after a delay. <em>“Oh … sorry. None of us were expecting a middle of the night id well.”</em></p><p>“It's ok. This is more important than sleep.” Which he rarely got, but what was the point in mentioning it? The timing wasn't Momoki's fault.</p><p>“<em>If it's any consolation, I got woken up too. Had to drive here.”</em></p><p>A second voice broke over, he recognized Togo's level tone.<em> “Sir, he's sounding kind of tired, even for him. Are you sure we should be doing this right now?”</em></p><p>“<em>It's a good question. You up to this, Narihisago.”</em></p><p>“Do I have a choice?”</p><p>There was a slight pause, the sound of breath stuck in the throat. Narihisago knew he had caught him by surprise with that one.<em>“Hondomachi is currently out of the city. So. Not really.”</em></p><p>“Then, why are you asking a pointless question?” Narihisago blinked slowly. Waiting for the inevitable. He could hear the tick of the computer screens, the Wellside crew dashing around prepping. They were all voices he knew in snatches. It was amazing how much the mics caught. Taking a deep breath he rubbed his bandages as a vague thought formed. “Hey, Momoki. What time is it?”</p><p>“<em>Huh?” </em>Momoki sounded distracted. There was still a slight rasp to his voice. Not surprising. If Narihisago had tracked the passage of time correctly it was only seventeen days since the incident. That was the rough count from two solid weeks he'd spent in the medical ward and three days back down in his cell after being released. Fractured ribs wouldn't heal that fast. <em>“It's three am. Why?”</em></p><p>“Hmm … ok.” He settled back deeper into the chair, struggling to find a comfortable position without any success. “Let's make this quick, then.”</p><p>“<em>We're ready up here. Ok—Inject Sakaido”</em></p><p>The screen shifted forward, stretched over his head displaying the countdown on the clock. He took a few deep breaths. It was the damn anticipation, especially the first time in a new well. He never knew what bat-shit crazy landscape he'd be diving into. In the better ones he came to in some stationary position. In most of them … he literally fell into it with various successes. The failures were the ones that sucked.</p><p>The lights slammed to dim, overhead shut off as the blue lights lining the edges of the floor in the chamber took over. All for show, it's not like he noticed mood lighting in a dive. Of course, the dim blues were easier to come back to when the disorientation was still fresh. Someone had been thinking about design. The clock ticked down … three … two … one …</p><p>The real world dissolved as he shut his eyes, replaced by the strange twisting images that precluded every-single-dive, like ripping into the fabric of the universe itself all the way down to the cellular level. That had been beautiful—and terrifying … the first few times. Now, it was just part of the strangeness as his identity detaching from his consciousness and he entered the void.</p><p>
  <em>Here we go again.<br/></em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Falling.</p><p>He opened his eyes as the wind rushed past him, the scarf wrapped around his neck dragged, pressure made it harder to breathe. This was odd. Why was he falling? Falling wasn't a good thing. Or was it? He had no idea who he was or where the hell he was. A vast green expanse stretched out beneath him, coming up fast.</p><p>Too fast!</p><p>He scrambled in mid air unable to change anything. His throat stung as he screamed. There was no changing the collision course. Crashing through the branches of an immense tree, he flipped a couple of times before his chest collided with a large enough one to hold his weight. His fingers clawed into the rough bark and gravity threatened to continue his wayward plummet.</p><p>He stared in awe at the vast jungle. Muggy. Tangled in tree-choking vines. In the purple velvet sky silver moonlight cast shadows over everything accompanied by countless stars. Looking down he realized it would be quite a fall to the dark forest floor from the branch he clung to.</p><p>
  <em>How did I wind up in the middle of jungle? Did I fall from a plane? Wait … who am I? </em>
</p><p>A drop of something overhead plopped on the bark between his fingers. <em>Huh? </em> He blinked. Red in the pool of moonlight. <em>Blood?</em></p><p>Staring up he saw someone else draped over a branch. <em>Another fall victim?</em> It looked like a woman, laying on her back, arms outstretched. He scrambled to the trunk and climbed up, edging onto the branch toward her. The moment he locked on her vibrant green eyes, his breath caught in his chest.</p><p>
  <em>Kaeru. I know her name is Kaeru. And by knowing that, I know my name is Sakaido. I have a purpose here … I am a brilliant detective. My job is to solve her murder … in this world everything has meaning. And there is a lot here!</em>
</p><p>Crouching close to her, he narrowed his eyes and examined her torn dress. Her wide green eyes staring out in a petrified shock at the world. Debris clung to her, scratches all over her skin. But none of that counted as a mortal wound. The killing blow was obvious, across her neck and down onto her collar bone four savage gashes lined in a row.</p><p>“Well, the fall didn't do this. Tree branches don't leave damage that parallel. It's almost as if … ”</p><p>In the shadows of the moonlight a leaf shifted. <em>Huh?</em> Two savage golden eyes bore into him. Sakaido tensed. Before he could even blink the massive beast erupted from the foliage, mouth first. Jaws clamped around his neck and cut off the air as the beast pushed him off the branch. They fell against the next branch in a spine-cracking collision. Silver claws flashed in the moonlight and raked into his chest. They raised once more above his prone body as everything faded to a spotty black.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Momoki stared at the Wellside with his jaw hanging open. He wasn't the only one. The whole team was frozen in front of their respective holographic screens. Togo stood beside the main well projection assisting him, the other three up on the support rim. They each had their jobs. Shiratake analyzing places. Habutae identifying people. And Wakashika making deductions.</p><p>Wakashika gawked, rewinding the video capture. “What the hell was that?”</p><p>Recovering herself, Togo stiffened belatedly remembering her duty. “Sakaido has died.”</p><p>Shaking his head to clear it, Momoki slashed the air with his hand. “Extract Sakaido!”</p><p>She hit the extraction button, and recorded the rest of the important information concerning the dive. “Sakaido was in the well for a total of fifty-three seconds.”</p><p>Over the speaker Narihisago's gasp crackled, followed by panting.</p><p>“Hey, Narihisago, you alright?”</p><p>“<em>I do not recommend getting mauled by a leopard. That was … rather … unpleasant.”</em> His voice sounded tight, forced through his throat.</p><p>Momoki heaved a relieved sigh, glad to hear him speaking after that sight. Granted, the versions differed. Sakaido resembled a much younger, and rather less disheveled, version of Narihisago. But there was something unnerving about actually seeing him get offed within the wells. Unfortunately, this was the only way to gather the data. Someone's consciousness had to be the point of reference. Someone had to run the gauntlet. “A leopard? You sure that's what that was?”</p><p>“<em>Uh, yeah. Kinda hard to miss when it's eating your throat out. Don't suppose the Wakumusubi picked up an escaped zoo animal's lust for revenge?”</em></p><p>“Nice theory. But I'm pretty sure that it only picks up the human drive to kill.”</p><p>“<em>Pretty sure, huh? That means there's still a chance.”</em></p><p>Momoki shook his head. There he was, drawing conclusions. “Are you awake now?”</p><p>Narihisago took a rather audible breath. <em>“You could say that. This well … is gonna be a bitch.”</em></p><p>“No kidding.” Wakashika shook his head staring at the video. “The dim lighting and the dense foliage are going to make it difficult to see the forest for the trees.”</p><p>Momoki turned fully and eyed him, the early morning wake-up call giving him less patience for humor. The pause lasted long enough the deductive analyzer looked down from his station and blanched. Momoki grumbled. “Really? You had to spout that line?” He continued, addressing all four of his Wellside assistants. “Alright, everyone, pay attention. Looks like we're coming into a challenge. The moonlight conditions will make it harder to spot the clues. But we know they are there. And it's possible that the full moon phase is part of the symbolism.”</p><p>Wakashika shifted the screen capture of Sakaido's clinging landing. “Hrm … what are the odds?”</p><p>Habutae and Shiratake both slowly turned and stared at Wakashika Neither of them had any data yet to work with. No people to ID and this appeared to be a generic jungle so no places yet. But it was obvious they both knew what odds their most gregarious teammate was pondering.</p><p>At Momoki's side Togo pointed to the vitals display showing Narihisago's heart rate returning to his baseline. Momoki crossed his arms over his chest, the gesture slightly irritating his still healing ribs. “Everyone ready?”</p><p>“<em>Why did it have to be another falling entrance? … Yeah, I'll manage. Just call me a tree-hugger. Really hope I don't miss the target. That looks to be a long way down. Not likely to survive that trip any more than Mister Ambush.”</em></p><p>Turned out Wakashika wasn't the only one thinking about the unfortunate nature of the entry.</p><p>Momoki didn't envy Narihisago his task. But it couldn't be helped. Someone was out for blood and they had to find out who. “Inject Sakaido.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Crouched over Kaeru, Sakaido's eyes narrowed at the rows of gashes on her neck. Deep rakes all in one direction.</p><p>
  <em>Odd. There is no doubt that's the cause of her death. But animals kill to eat their prey, usually. Why hasn't she been consum—</em>
</p><p>Motion caught the corner of his eye. Sakaido swung his head to the right, raising slowly into a more active crouch. Ready to grab Kaeru and dart.</p><p><em>The tree. </em> He blinked upward trying to remember for certain the height of the branch from a moment ago. Was it different? <em>That tree, there has to be something in it.</em></p><p>The branch that now quivered under the weight of something … something large enough to tip it significantly downward.</p><p><em>Tch! That was not something I wanted to be right about! </em>Sakaido's foot edged backward, further out onto the branch. His instincts screamed to grab Kaeru as two gleaming golden orbs stared at him hungrily in the moonlight.</p><p>“Sorry, gotta run!” He turned and flung himself off the branch into a free fall, arms flailing into the air as he twisted and caught a glimpse up.</p><p>A massive, larger than normal, leopard soared out catching its weight on another branch. It screamed its displeasure, staring down with eyes contemplating pursuit.</p><p>In mid air, Sakaido's arms caught another bough, knocking the wind from him. But he hung there, legs dangling in the air. Recovering enough to get a decent lungful, he eyed the jungle cat and laughed. “Missed me! And still, this seems rather odd. Why would you still be hunting if you already have an uneaten kill?”</p><p>He grunted as he climbed up onto the branch. The leopard continued to glare down at him, tail lashing the air.</p><p>
  <em>Oh well. Looks as though he likes it up there. Of course, this is going to make it harder to solve the case with him guarding the evidence. Unless I can distract him. </em>
</p><p>A rasping sound pervaded, mingling with the chirrup of the insects … gradually the insect chorus dwindled. Sakaido cocked his head at the strange new sound taking over. The flick of something cool against the nape of his neck paralyzed him. He flinched, his eyes widened as goosebumps sprouted all over his skin.</p><p>“What the … ?”</p><p>He turned and scrambled backward in a panic. The slit eyes of a humongous snake draping down from the bough above stared straight at him. The patterns of brown scales blended in perfectly with the branches, were it not for the bright yellow eyes. The snake arced back, opening its mouth and exposing two needle sharp fangs.</p><p>Sakaido held out a hand, feeling more than a little foolish. “Ok … heh heh … I get it … not welcome here. I'll just be going … ”</p><p>The grip of his shoe slipped as the bark gave way. He tipped into a plummet. “Ahhhh!”</p><p>A short plummet. Not even clearing the branch, he looked down to discover his shoes dangling in the open air. A second later fire coursed through his veins spreading from his left arm into his core.</p><p>Throwing his head back a scream tore from his throat, his eyes taking in the snake's fangs buried to the gums through his trench coat into the flesh of his forearm, runnels of blood stained the sleeve. The fire scorched his heart as it reached it. The beats turned erratic, instead of measured, it alternated between seizing and racing. Once his breath ran out, he failed to draw a sufficient one to replace it. Every resistance failed as his muscles refused to obey leaving him slumped and limp as the beast dragged him back up onto the branch, wrenching its fangs free.</p><p>It re-positioned over his exposed neck, hissing. The tongue flicking out against his neck. Paralyzed by the venom, all he could do was watch as the snake reared back and slammed its fangs into his throat to a new fiery surge, more painful than the last.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Sakaido has died … again.” Togo marked the tablet screen. “That was at least a longer dive. Two minutes, twenty five seconds.”</p><p>Momoki rubbed the bridge of his nose and whispered, “Shit.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Extract Sakaido.”</p><p>From the platform above them Habutae called out. “Inspector, I have a positive ID on the kind of snake. But just like the leopard, it's larger than normal. That was a mamushi, a highly venomous viper native to Japan. That's really all I got, sir.”</p><p>Wakashika leaned on the railing. “This jungle is too thick. We're not getting anything that isn't directly in front of his face. At this point, not counting the over a dozen misses on the landing, Sakaido's been nailed by the leopard seven times. This was the first he successfully evaded only to find this nasty sucker. But to get anything out of this well we're going to need at least a ten minute dive.”</p><p>“Shiratake,” Momoki glanced up to catch him adjusting his glasses, “anything? Please tell me you got something.”</p><p>“I'm out of my depth on this one. So far there is nothing distinguishing this setting. No landmarks. It appears to be a representative jungle. The leopard and mamushi do not naturally co-exist. That supports this not being a specific location. And certainly not from an expert environmentalist who would know better than to mix species.”</p><p>Momoki stared down into the projected id well. “So … we need more information to catch this … ” he pondered it before continuing, it did make sense, “Predator.” The id well now had a name.</p><p>“<em>Wait … just a … moment … ”</em><span> Narihisago's panting crackled over the speaker.</span></p><p>With a start, Momoki stood up straighter, the motion tugging on his still tender ribs. “Are you alright?”</p><p>“<em>Having trouble shaking … this one … off.”</em></p><p>“That's unusual.”</p><p>“<em>I know … just let me … have a few … minutes.”</em></p><p>That was even more unusual. Narihisago never asked for break. Usually he was forced to take one. “Alright. Let us know when you're ready.” He leaned over and looked to Togo, keeping his voice down, “Vitals?”</p><p>She shook her head. “Clearly elevated. That well death had quite the impact. This is our first experience with toxins in an id well. It's possible there could be some residual crossover. At least his mind may have carried over the impression of the effects.”</p><p>They both kept their eyes to the screen watching as the vitals gradually trended back into normal range. Momoki expected to hear Narihisago's confirmation he was ready. But there was radio silence down there save for his deep breathing. Another couple minutes passed. “Talk to me, Narihisago.”</p><p>“<em>It's better now. That was different. Never had that happen before.”</em></p><p>“I hate to ask it, but since this is a first we need to know, what did it feel like?”</p><p>Narihisago's voice was hesitant, as though he doubted his own words. <em>“Like someone pouring acid through my veins. My chest actually hurt too.”</em></p><p>“On this side of the dive?”</p><p>“<em>Yeah.”</em></p><p>Togo nodded, “Well your pulse wasn't steady for a few seconds. Luckily the pattern is normal now.” Momoki was glad she didn't tell him the full details of that little stunt. The erratic rhythm had also increased the force of each beat. No wonder he'd felt it.</p><p>“<em>Reassuring.” </em><span>A word that should have had inflection, but like usual there was none, just his flat tone.</span></p><p>“Are you sure you can dive again?” Momoki held a hand to the Wellside crew. “I am serious. If you need a longer break, let's call it for now.”</p><p>
  <span>There was a short pause. </span>
  <em>“I can manage.”</em>
</p><p>That deadpan tone made it impossible for Momoki to know if he was being honest or just clinging to his duty, pushing through out of a sense of purpose. The final call always was Momoki's. He knew he didn't have to ask, technically as Momoki's imprisoned subordinate Narihisago didn't actually have a say in this. It felt wrong, and like abuse, if he didn't.</p><p>“Alright. If you're sure. Let's go again.” He locked eyes with Togo. “Inject Sakaido.”</p><p>Staring back at the projection he waited for the image to update marking Sakaido's landing. <em>Please let him last longer this time.</em></p><p>Three minutes and eleven seconds later, Momoki buried his face in his hands, grumbling, “Extract Sakaido …Togo, track his vitals. I'm beginning to hate this id well.”</p><p>Wakashika remarked wryly, “If that apathetic guy feels anything at all, I bet Narihisago does, too. Damn, that snake is fast.” All eyes turned to Wakashika in the silence he glanced over his shoulder. “What?”</p><p>Momoki folded his arms across his chest. “That remark was uncalled for.”</p><p>“Sorry, I didn't mean anything... just that the way he talks … ok, I'll shut up now.”</p><p>The dives stacked up in a run of short-lived failures in a variety of unfavorable ends. Professionalism seemed the only thing keeping Momoki's Wellside crew from betting the details of how the next dive would terminate. The frustration continued to grow in the dearth of clues gleaned from the dense jungle. Once they had glimpsed a human hand through the foliage, but that was right before the leopard knocked Sakaido into mid air before catching him and dragging his half conscious body up into the higher branches.</p><p>Momoki sighed, wishing he didn't have to say it aloud for the official record each time. “Extract him and put him back in again.” It was getting redundant.</p><p>Down inside the id well's holographic projection the fall in played out. Momoki shifted and rubbed his ribs, aching from standing here for this long, but it wasn't enough for him to stop. In the silence Matsuoka's voice came through the channel, <em>“Director Momoki, you have anything for me at all?”</em></p><p>“Unfortunately no.”</p><p>“<em>Seriously? What have you been doing? It's been hours.”</em></p><p>“I know. This well has been particularly tricky to get any length of a dive in. We're facing a significant number of hazards cutting the dive time to a fraction of his normal length.”</p><p>Togo interrupted him, “Sakaido has died.”</p><p>Habutae groaned, “Put another mark for the snake.”</p><p>“Tsh.” Momoki shook his head. “Extract him quick before it hits.”</p><p>“Too late,” muttered Habutae.</p><p>“Matsuoka, I wish we had something, but circumstances mean this is going to take longer. We're doing everything we can.”</p><p>“<em>That's all fine and dandy, but I'm sitting on my ass out here waiting for something to act on ...”</em><span> His words cut off suddenly, interrupted by retching rapidly followed by what sounded like a torrent spattering on the floor. </span><em>“Uhh … Momoki? Is one of your crew sick?”</em></p><p>Momoki rolled his eyes and caught his head in his hand. “Narihisago, was that you?”</p><p>
  <span>His gasping carried over the speaker. </span>
  <em>“Re … regretfully.” </em>
  <span>Raw, and breathy. </span>
  <em>“The good news is, now that I know where the controls are … I managed to miss them.”</em>
</p><p>“Shit, that damn snake.” Momoki looked to Togo. “Everyone, we're on a break. Get the staff to clean the cockpit. And bring Narihisago some water. He's gotta need that by now. Matsuoka, looks like it'll be a while. There's not much more I can do.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The lights blazed white against the cylindrical wall. Seated on the floor, Narihisago leaned back against the chamber wall a fair distance from the cockpit as the staff scrubbed up the mess he'd inadvertently made. The distance was for the staff's comfort, not so much his own. He didn't envy them, considering that appeared to have been at least his lunch and dinner from the day before … by the sheer volume quite possibly breakfast too. Since he wasn't actually in the cockpit Hagashi, one of the new guards, had cuffed him while the other seasoned guard hung by the door, via protocol. The rigid cuffs holding his wrists slightly apart of course made it trickier to drink the water they had brought for him, but he managed that without complaint, gripping it in both hands.</p><p>
  <span>He felt like shit, bone sore and still shivering from the eerie shadow of the venom. Bowing his head he sucked in the cool air of the chamber hoping it would settle out the residual nausea that plagued him. Maybe three strikes in such a short succession weren't a good thing after all. He couldn't be sure there wasn't some effect crossing the barrier. Especially after vomiting. The vomiting was </span>
  <em>not</em>
  <span> a reassuring sign. Nothing like that had ever happened before. And then there was an odd numbness to whichever limb it nabbed in the well, it hadn't been the same one. However, after the initial grab it had always gone for the neck.</span>
</p><p>He stretched out his arms to explore the residual effects. Would have preferred just the right one, but the cuffs denied that option for him. There were no marks from the fangs. The skin remained undamaged. Rolling his wrist he tested the phantom acidic burn where the snake's fangs had pierced directly between the arm bones. Better, but still there. Just like the previous times it seemed to recede in a slow wave that took more than a few minutes. After the second bite, sensing Momoki's impatience, he hadn't allowed time for the full clearing before going back in. That proved to be a mistake, he'd missed the branch in the landing and ended up taking a trip all the way down to the bottom of the well cracking his head open on the exposed roots of the tree. At least that was easy to shake off once he opened his eyes. But this third snake bite, damn it hurt.</p><p>About two arms lengths away Hagashi crouched as if ready for combat, a bead of sweat running down his forehead as he reached for his gun, fueled by every minute motion Narihisago made. This newer transfer was an easy read.</p><p>“Relax, rookie. You better steel those nerves quick or you won't last long in this industry.” Narihisago muttered, eyeing him through his damp hair. His shirt was already soaked through from sweat. “This id well is really screwing with me. I don't have it in me to be any trouble to you, even if I wanted to.”</p><p>He jerked upright, his hand opened back up. “How do I know you're telling the truth?”</p><p>
  <span>Clumsily, he downed the rest of the water in a couple gulps. He really had needed that, not just to wash out the rancid taste, but to replace what the sweat was driving out of him. “Two reasons. One, I have a thing about honesty. I never lie. And two, I'm on the job. That's one time that not even </span>
  <em>that</em>
  <span> accursed urge will interfere with. You're safe now, you can trust me.”</span>
</p><p>His wide stare didn't look convinced.</p><p>Narihisago heaved a sigh and half-closed his eyes. “ … or not. Fine.” He shrugged. “I suppose you are smarter not trusting me in the long run.”</p><p>Hagashi swallowed his fear. Squaring his shoulders he adopted a bravado. “There's a reason you're an inmate here.”</p><p>“You got that right.” He rested his cuffed wrists on his updrawn knees.</p><p>“Even if you have a job to do, you're still a convict.” Hagashi lifted his chin with an air of superiority.</p><p>Narihisago took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The things he longed to say to this little upstart, but it took too much energy and he didn't want Momoki to get flack for it. The guy was dealing with enough crap today. Still, someone needed to give the prick a reality check. “Guess when Kura looked for replacements after the shit show went down they had to settle for whatever they could get.”</p><p>That rattled him, his irises shrank for a moment. “Sh … shit show? What shit show?”</p><p>He looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, they didn't tell you what happened to a good portion of staff and most of the prisoners?”</p><p>Hagashi stiffened.</p><p>“<em>Narihisago!” </em><span>Momoki's voice echoed in the chamber. </span><em>“That's a need to know subject.”</em></p><p>That reprimand did nothing to quiet the guard's audible heartbeat.</p><p>“Alright.” Narihisago rested his fore head on his arms, lapsing into silence.</p><p>A few minutes passed in the quiet chamber as the staff gathered up their supplies and left. Hagashi closed the distance keeping his voice down to a whisper. “What happened?”</p><p>He glanced to the side and shook his head. “Sorry. Guess I'm not supposed to say anything about the comas. You'll have to ask the higher ups.”</p><p>Hagashi's eyes unfocused.</p><p>“<em>Narihisago?”</em></p><p>He lifted his head, expecting to get snapped at again to keep his mouth shut. “Yeah?”</p><p>“<em>You able to dive again?”</em></p><p>“Well … I don't feel like I'm going to puke anymore. So, there is that.”</p><p>“<em>Are you ever going to give me a direct answer?”</em></p><p>Narihisago shrugged even though he wouldn't see it. “Yes. I can dive again.”</p><p>“<em>Good, back in the cockpit and lets crack this thing.”</em></p><p>Glancing at Hagashi he waited for the gesture, after all he knew damn well what would happen if he moved without their permission. But the rookie appeared to have zoned out. Narihisago turned to the guard at the door and cleared his throat, pointing to the cockpit. The seasoned guard nodded. “Go ahead.”</p><p>Pushing up from the floor, he was halfway standing when the pang struck stealing his breath. He caught his weight against the wall, clenching his eyes for the span of a few breaths.</p><p>The guard came closer. “You ok?”</p><p>“Yeah.” He forced it out. “Stood a bit too quick.” It was partially true. But the deep throb continued to plague him, a troubling prospect. How much time had passed? He had difficulty tracking that, a side effect of the dives, especially many of them in rapid succession. Tracking time became impossible.</p><p>It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered right now was completing the dive. Sitting down in the cockpit he waited for the functioning guard to remove his cuffs before he settled back into the seat. “Alright. Ready to become a chew toy again.”</p><p>“<em>That isn't funny. Try to stay alive for a bit longer this time.”</em></p><p>He laid his head back and stared at the screen lowering down into position. “As if anything you say here contributes to that factor.”</p><p>“<em>Narihisago. I mean it.”</em></p><p>“I know, you need the data. Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get it.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wakashika leaned on the railing, “You know, Sakaido is really missing his stride today for some reason. We've only gotten one dive anywhere close to five minutes … ”</p><p>Momoki held up a hand. “Stay on task.” He didn't want to admit it, but it was true. They'd been at this for hours now and gotten next to nothing to work with. By now they usually had at least a small amount of clues to start theorizing on.</p><p>“Sakaido found a body.” Habutae released a breath. “Finally, something for me to do. A young girl draped across the tree in the well. Claw marks to the neck.”</p><p>Wakashika added, tucking his fist beneath his chin thoughtfully. “Those aren't from a leopard, though. And not the snake's fangs either. What the hell?”</p><p>Continuing his own analysis, Habutae fired through several screens, his station suddenly buried in data. “Ok, running facial recognition … we have a match. Noa Kojima. Public record notes her death in 2011. Discovered along a running path on the park outside of Tokyo. Three coroners consulted. One dubbed it a suicide by multiple slashes to the throat. The other two determined it was murder due to the depth of the four slices. Case is long cold with no suspects.”</p><p>Momoki crossed his arms as Habutae pushed the screens to him. “Well, since she's in an id well we know whose call was right. Let's see what else Sakaido can pick out from here.”</p><p>“<em>Interesting angle, looks like the marks are from behind. Almost like … what was that?” </em></p><p>All eyes flashed to the live feed as the foliage separated over Sakaido's shoulder. He had just enough time to release a scream as the talons of an immense bird of prey picked him up, lost its hold, and dropped him into a plummet through the canopy.</p><p>Momoki caught his face in his hands. “Oh for fu—extract Sakaido.” This irritation was getting to be too much … along with another one that was proving harder to ignore. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a pill bottle surrendering to the ache in his healing ribs. He washed the pill down with a gulp of luke warm coffee</p><p>Togo's eyes widened at the snap of the bottle's cap. “Sir. I think I know what's interfering with the dives. Narihisago, isn't he still on painkillers?”</p><p>Eyes wide, Momoki stared at the bottle in his hand. “Oh shit, trials haven't been conducted.”</p><p>“Not where I was going, sir.” She pointed to the clock, 8:35. “Narcotics are bad news if they fall out of the system. When was he scheduled for his next dose?”</p><p>Hastily, Momoki used his administrative access to pull the medical chart. “SHIT! An hour and a half ago. Vitals?”</p><p>Pulling up the data on her tablet, Togo shook her head. “We have a serious problem.” There on the screen it played out in the numbers, a read out that should have been all green tainted with a red. Narihisago's vitals were unstable, alarmingly.</p><p>“Get the medic to the chamber with his next dose, now!” Momoki opened the staircase access, the floor panels on the outer ring dropping downward to provide the passage. “Narihisago? Why didn't you remind me?”</p><p>
  <span>The reply over the speaker came, tight and breathy, </span>
  <em>“About … what?”</em>
</p><p>Swift as his own limiting injury would let him, Momoki descended the circular stairwell that led to the cockpit chamber. The guard outside opened the door at his gesture.</p><p>Inside, Narihisago wasn't lying on his back in the cockpit. He was curled slightly on his side, gasping in pain, his color flush as he gripped his stomach. He blinked open his clenched eyes and hissed. “Inject me … I won't feel it in there.”</p><p>Momoki raced to the side of the cockpit, reaching out to grasp his wrist. Pulse thready, breathing far too fast and shallow. He was shacking hard enough his teeth chattered. “Absolutely not! What were you thinking not mentioning this?”</p><p>He had to collect a few breaths before he could answer. “You're the director … the dive … the dive is all … that's important. Ahh! Inject me, please, I'm begging you!”</p><p>“Not on your life!”</p><p>Narihisago's eyes rolled shut, the trembling increased as he half spit out curses.</p><p>The door opened as Hagashi escorted Dr. Ryo Araya in. The moment Araya saw Narihisago in the cockpit he threw Momoki a glare. “What the hell is he doing diving in his condition?”</p><p>“Not now.”</p><p>“Exactly.” Araya set his case down and gestured to Hagashi to help him. “He shouldn't be in this thing yet, you know what a strain it puts on the body. You, guard, help me get him onto the floor so I have better access without this thing in my way. Careful not to jar him. By now there is nothing banking his pain.”</p><p>Hagashi eyed him, a grimace on his face.</p><p>“Guard, now!”</p><p>Rushing forward, Hagashi joined the Araya, they lifted Narihisago from the cockpit. He clenched his eyes shut and tried unsuccessfully to bite back his cries with each shift of his abdomen. Laying him out on the floor, Araya linked his tablet to Narihisago's prison ID bracelet, the signal booster pulled everything from the bio-chip in his wrist. The data spilled out. “Well, if you're trying to kill him, you're off to a good start.” Placing a hand on Narihisago's left shoulder he bent over him. “Slow down your breathing. You're hyperventilating.”</p><p>Narihisago writhed on the floor, trying to curl back up, but Araya held him flat. With his other hand he searched through the kit and pulled out a small bottle giving it a couple quick mixing turns. “How long have you had him at this?”</p><p>Momoki sighed as the relevance finally struck him. “He asked me for the time, damn it. I should have figured this out … three am, it's been five and half hours.</p><p>“We're going to have a medical lecture about this afterward, Well Director. He's in so much pain now he's not even hearing me. Can't give him what he was on. He needs something faster and stronger. This will bank it in a hurry before he goes into cardiac arrest.” He released his hold and pulled out a syringe loading it quickly. “Guard, turn his head the other way. Just in case, I don't want him to know when this is coming.”</p><p>Hagashi hesitated, “Sir—he's known for getting hostile.”</p><p>“Yes, that's precisely why I don't want him watching.” Araya answered while pinning Narihisago's left arm to the floor and probing for a vein.</p><p>This was taking too long. Momoki knelt down and pushed Narihisago's head the other way so he wasn't able to see. Not that it mattered, with his eyes clenched tight. His rapid pulse showed on the throbbing vein in his neck. “Hey, easy now … nice deep breaths.” His words produced no change.</p><p>Araya stuck the needle in, pulling it back slightly so little ribbons of blood entered the chamber, mixing in the clear liquid. Proof he'd hit his mark. Quickly he emptied the syringe and massaged his fingers along the vein. “Give it a few minutes to kick in. Relief is coming, Narihisago. Just keep breathing.”</p><p>Laid out on the floor, Narihisago whimpered between desperate gasps. His fingers clawed blindly at the air. He wasn't getting enough oxygen in the rapid breathing, Momoki shifted his hand beneath his neck lifting to change the angle of his head, opening the airway. While watching the vitals read out on the chart, Araya pulled up his damp shirt and gently rested his hand on either side of where the shot was beneath the thick layers of bandages. “Good, I don't think anything ruptured. The painkiller just crashed out of his system, which is a serious issue in and of itself. The shit he's on can't just be stopped, Momoki. Once he doesn't need it anymore, which I think this proves he still bloody well does, we'll have to gradually ween him off of it.”</p><p>“We lost track of the time.”</p><p>Araya shook his head. “Not an excuse. Never should have been in this room in the first place.”</p><p>“We didn't have another option. With Fukuda still in a coma, and Hondomachi out of town … we're still trying to get a message to her, but it was in the middle of the night. He was our only option. He said he could do it.”</p><p>Narihisago took his first deeper breath, letting it out in a shaky moan. His eyes half opened. His frantic pulse gradually edged closer to normal, pulled down by the effects of the drug.</p><p>“You trusted him? Ha! He will always say he can do it. You know that.”</p><p>Flexing his hands, Narihisago made a shambling effort to turn over to climb to the cockpit. He made it as far as lifting his right shoulder off the ground before he flopped back down like a fish on dry land. “Have to … dive.”</p><p>
  <span>Araya snorted a laugh. “Oh no you don't. In about fifteen minutes the dose I gave you will have knocked you clean out. A sedated pilot can't dive. That wasn't the stuff you were discharged with. Remember what you were on in the medical unit?”</span>
</p><p>Narihisago groaned, his eyes shutting. “ … fuck … ”</p><p>“<span>That's right. </span><em>That one</em><span>. Momoki, he's going to be out for the next few hours.”</span></p><p>Burying his face in his hands, Momoki muttered. “Great, this is all I need!” Everything was going wrong in a landslide.</p><p>“If you hadn't overshot his dose time, I could have given him the lighter one. He'd be awake again sooner. Sorry.”</p><p>“It's ok.” Momoki gestured to the guards. “Take him back to his cell. Let him get some sleep. When he wakes up, make sure he eats. I don't care what time it is or how it throws the staff's schedule off—he gets fed! And for his sake, take it easy on getting him back there. He's had a rough ride.”</p><p>The guards cuffed him and eased him upright, mostly supporting his barely coordinated weight as he tried to shuffle his feet. Narihisago glanced back as well as he could, shame in his eyes. “Sorry.”</p><p>Momoki shook his head and climbed to his feet calling out to the Wellside crew. “Break off for now. We'll come back in a few hours and try this again.”</p><p>
  <span>Araya crossed his arms and glared. “You better hope Hondomachi gets here. You do realize I dosed him on the strong shit. He'll be lucky to know who is on </span>
  <em>this</em>
  <span> side of the dive.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The dead end corridor held a rather claustrophobic feeling. More than it had before. Granted, Momoki rarely went to the cell blocks themselves, usually just going as far as the interrogation room. At the moment that was not an option. Not that he would say it, but he was glad Togo decided to accompany him. Her first time this far into the prison proper of Kura. This particular block felt rather sparser than usual considering it held only one occupant.</p><p>They stood outside Narihisago's cell. He lay curled on his left side, his right arm hung slack over the edge of the bed. One bare foot hung over the other. Momoki didn't need to see the stats to know he'd surrendered to the sedative's effects.</p><p>Hours, damn it. Still, he glanced to Togo and waved a finger.</p><p>In sync with his thoughts, she punched the button on her tablet and connected to the readout from Narihisago's vital monitor. “Yeah, he's out pretty deep. The good news is everything is reading as stable, now.”</p><p>Momoki heaved a sigh. “Thank heavens for that.”</p><p>Clutching the tablet, she watched Narihisago's slow and steady breathing. “Sir, do you think for the sake of a solution he would push himself beyond the brink? Not in a well death, but ...”</p><p>A shudder rippled through Momoki. He cut her off not wanting to hear the full question. “I know he would, without question. Every time, every dive, his life is in my hands. For a moment I forgot about that.”</p><p>“<span>I heard the doctor remark about not trusting him to gauge, that he would always opt to dive. I know we've heard that before … but until recently I didn't quite realize that wasn't just a saying. He truly risked his life for us during the incident. And even today, he could have said he was hurting, but he didn't.”</span></p><p>Momoki bowed his head and shook it. “Same ol' Narihisago. That part never changes. Years ago things might have played out differently if … ” he stopped himself. What good were the what if's? They'd never bring his partner back.</p><p>“Sir?”</p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>She shifted uncomfortably at this side. “Well, if it's not too bold of me to say so, I think I can see the allure of the well dives for him. This isn't much.” Togo gestured to the sparse cell.</p><p>“You think this is bad?” He raised an eyebrow to her. “I take it you have never visited a regular prison.”</p><p>“No reason to.”</p><p>“Well this is a vast improvement compared to the conditions he was originally sentenced to. Here he has an actual bed and a climate controlled environment.”</p><p>Togo slowly turned and studied him.</p><p>Momoki watched the rise and fall of his breathing. “When I got him transferred to Kura he'd already been through close to two years of sleeping, when he was even able to, directly on a tamaki mat floor in a building with no heat or air conditioning. Maximum security prisons as a standard are rather devoid of luxuries. He also didn't have any access to those.” He pointed to the photos lining the wall. “Trust me, this is far better now then being kept like that in isolation.”</p><p>Her eyes drifted over the photos, widening. “Damn. On the floor? Did he have anything at all?”</p><p>“I never got a chance to enter the prison proper, only saw him through a visitation window, but I had looked into the situation enough to learn the truth.” He shut his eyes. “I couldn't imagine what that would have been like, especially in the winter. To be honest, he changes the topic if I try to ask. Because of his deadpan tone these days I can never tell how much it really bothered him or not.”</p><p>“He wasn't always … ”</p><p>Momoki shook his head. His hand tightening into a fist at his side.</p><p>Footsteps echoed down the corridor and came to a halt. Momoki glanced up to find the guard from earlier nervously frozen. “Uhhh Mr. Wellside Director, Sir. I was just doing my last round before the shift change.”</p><p>“It's Momoki.” He waved the man forward. Once he was close enough he glimpsed the name on the badge. “Hagashi, right?”</p><p>He nodded, the hat flopping a bit with the vigor. It didn't escape Momoki that he glanced at Narihisago. “Sir, I should apologize for earlier … in the chamber … I was just … it's that … ”</p><p>“His reputation proceeds him.” Momoki kept his tone level, banishing the frustration and trying to be patient. “Caution is essential here. The safety of all personnel is of utmost importance. That includes him,” he pointed into the cell, “seeing as he is a rather crucial part the Kura operation.”</p><p>Hagashi tipped his head down enough to hide his eyes under the bill of his cap.</p><p>“I realize you're newer here, and this is far from a typical assignment. But you'll need to get accustomed to the quirks swiftly and get on board. If you are given an order, you need to obey it right away.”</p><p>“Sir.” Hagashi's sideways glance became more obvious as he lifted his head. “There's something else … something he mentioned … what happened to … ” he flicked a hand over his shoulder toward the empty cells.</p><p>Shutting his eyes, Momoki muttered, “Damn it, Narihisago, if I didn't owe your ass I'd throw you in solitary for running you mouth.”</p><p>That only served to make Hagashi tense more, the man looked about ready to bolt right through the concrete walls.</p><p>“You've seen the Mizuhanome's cockpit chamber now. Usually there isn't much risk to a pilot diving, Narihisago has clocked more dives than I care to quantify at the moment. He was involved when we had a rather … unusual set of circumstances, which I can assure you will <b>never</b> happen again.”</p><p>Hagashi swallowed. “Did he do something … wrong?”</p><p>“Narihisago? Other than entering a dive while bleeding out from a gun shot wound, no. In fact his actions are part of the reason Kura didn't wind up trapped permanently in a living nightmare.” Momoki glanced at Togo.</p><p>She flashed a nervous smile. “I gained a whole new appreciation for wells after inadvertently being dropped into one.”</p><p>“You and the rest of those who actually woke up. The remainder,” Momoki absently rubbed his ribs, “we're holding out hope that someday their consciousness will return. It's doubtful considering they were killed in the wells.”</p><p>Hagashi's breath squealed in his throat.</p><p>“Normally that isn't a problem, at least from the cockpit.”</p><p>“How did … that … can it … ?”</p><p>“Easy. No. It's not likely to happen again. We have the source under control.” As mortifying as that revelation was. This process seemed terrible after learning about Asukai's forced stasis. Staring at Narihisago lying there in a drugged slumber brought it all the more to bear. To save lives … he was hijacking others. “Hagashi, it's the end of your shift. Go home. And remember you are not to talk about what goes on inside this building.”</p><p>Recovering himself, he tugged on his cap. “Sir.”</p><p>Momoki waited until the sound of his footsteps fully receded, wondering if this guard would even return, before he let his shoulders fall. “Alright. I've seen that Narihisago's ok. We should probably go in case we wake him.”</p><p>Glancing at the tablet, she shook her head. “Not likely by these numbers. But we should go for another reason. You should get some rest while you can. Go, lie down for a bit.”</p><p>He couldn't even argue with that. Even on the meds his healing ribs ached reminding him of the brutal climb up the tower in search of Kiki Asukai … and the tormented look in her eyes as she held his gun to her head.</p><p>What if he had inserted the mag?</p><p>Insanity … desperate clawing insanity pushed to the brink. The woman trapped in the machine, and the man confined to life in a cell. What would their choices be … if they had any?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The cafe on the corner remained largely deserted leaving the support staff to pick at their breakfasts and quietly chat about work without too much risk of someone overhearing from their corner booth. The waitress had vanished into the back after bringing out their meals.</p><p>Habutae hunched over and absently stirred his miso soup. “Am I the only one who is confused by this well?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Leaning back in his chair, Wakashika picked at the fish and rice, stuffing some in his mouth before the other two looked at him wearily. “Mmmmph?”</p><p>Shiratake shook his head, the pony tail shifting as he did so. “You better have been agreeing with him about being confused yourself.”</p><p>Swallowing, Wakashika held up his empty chopsticks. “I didn't mean I had more of a clue than you guys, sheesh. Everyone's so tetchy today. At least now we know why the clues weren't coming to us as usual. I mean, running with a drugged pilot? Of course he was falling on his ass.”</p><p>“That early wake-up call didn't help any of us either.” Removing his glasses, Shiratake rubbed his bagged eyes. “I didn't even know there was a 3am.”</p><p>Habutae swiped his finger across the work tablet and paused on the picture of a bird. “Well, this is our raptor, alright. Harpy Eagle.” He pushed it to the center of the table.</p><p>The others leaned over it, idly munching. With the chopstick still slightly in his mouth, Wakashika remarked, “Ok, so the wingspan of the real bird is …, huh, they're big, but not able to hoist Sakaido into the air big. Yet another case of a seriously mega-sized beast. So we got a mammal, a reptile, and a bird.”</p><p>“Come on, oh great deducer, what does that mean?” Shiratake picked up the tablet and scrolled through the data.</p><p>He scratched his head before holding both hands palm up and declaring, “Not a clue.”</p><p>“Looks like he and Sakaido are tied for cluelessness.” Shiratake offered a wry grin at Wakashika's narrowed eyes. “I can at least say that we have another creature from a different environment. Leopards are mostly lower African continent. Harpy eagles are in the upper region, just barely overlapping. And the mamushi is native to Japan. They have virtually nothing in common aside from being predators.”</p><p>Wakashika leaned on an elbow. “Except being supersized and clearly inhabiting the subconscious playground of a serial killer.”</p><p>“Why do killers have to use such bizarre symbolism?” Sinking down, Habutae rested his chin on his hand. “This well is giving me a headache. I could really use a nap about now.”</p><p>Shiratake laid down his chopsticks and eyed them both. “We wouldn't exactly have a job if they did. So, suck it up. Perhaps after this break Narihisago will have a better run and we'll get sight of the victims through the mess of the jungle. At least that will give you two something to do. You know the saying, <em>you can't make bread without dough.</em>”</p><p>“Hey, Shiratake, you gonna finish that?”</p><p>He rolled his eyes and shoved his plate across the table to Wakashika. “We have another mystery. With your appetite, how do you not look like a sumo wrestler?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <strong>~ID~</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Wakashika leaned on the edge of the Wellside railing alongside Habutae and Shiratake waiting for Momoki's signal. “Come on, you can't tell me that the second this well turned out to be a jungle you weren't hoping that we'd see a Tarzan moment.”</p><p>Shiratake peered over the rims of his glasses. “Honestly no. At this point we just need more clues then we have gleaned. And considering Narihisago's current condition hobbling progress, we want him to stay grounded.”</p><p>“In the trees?”</p><p>He rolled his eyes. “As a figure of speech.”</p><p>Momoki shot a glance up at them. “Ok team, let's get focused. Narihisago is on his way.”</p><p>“Finally.” Shiratake turned and fired up his screen.</p><p>Habutae wasn't far behind him. “Inspector, I did figure out what the bird was. We got a harpy eagle. As with the rest of the animals inside this well, it is larger than normal.”</p><p>“Any known significance?”</p><p>All three of them shook their heads. Wakashika rubbed his chin. “We talked about it all through breakfast. This is a strange, seemingly random combination.”</p><p>Habutae shifted the screen captures around. “No obvious ties to Kojima, except we all agree that the wounds on her neck in the well look to match the talons of the harpy eagle that snagged Sakaido.”</p><p>When Momoki studied each of them at length Wakashika lifted a hand. “It's all we have to go on at the moment until we get more data.”</p><p>Togo's stern voice called out, “He's in the cockpit.” The expression on her face when Momoki glanced her way was not encouraging.</p><p>“Narihisago. Are we good to go?”</p><p>“<em>Uhh … maybe?”</em></p><p>That rather timorous reply brought him up short. His eyes blurred as he stared at the id well's current holographic data holding in limbo, waiting for the pilot to be injected. “Come again? Is something wrong?” He shifted over and stole a glance at the vital readout on Togo's tablet. While they were stable, they were not what he would call anything close to energetic.</p><p>“<em>Not sure. But I'm having a terrible time staying awake.”</em></p><p>Momoki narrowed his eyes, the faint slur infecting Narihisago's speech bothered him. “That would be the painkiller.”</p><p>A slight pause followed, then, <em>“Oh … hey, that would make sense.”</em></p><p>Staring at the ceiling Momoki silently counted to ten. Was there any way to salvage this? What kind of a dive would they possibly get from him in this state?</p><p>Togo cleared her throat. “Sir?”</p><p>“I'm thinking.” Time was ticking away with a serial killer on the loose. The key to unraveling the identity right at his damn fingertips, but his pilot was a drugged up train wreck likely to fall asleep at the proverbial wheel.</p><p>“<em>So … we're doing this? Hello?”</em></p><p>Momoki tensed, his finger to his forehead. “I don't know if this is a good idea.”</p><p>“<em>What's the worst that can happen?”</em></p><p>Wakashika hissed and took a step back from his station. “Ok, that just doomed us.”</p><p>Holding up a hand, Momoki silenced him. “Alright, here's what we're gonna do. This has never been done before, so we don't really know the effect this is going to have on Sakaido in the well. I'll give us a three strike run to get above five minutes. If we hit three sub runs, we're terminating for now. Is that understood?”</p><p>The others nodded in unison.</p><p>“<em>What can it hurt?”</em></p><p>Momoki frowned. “You.” Mind made up he inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Inject Sakaido.”</p><p>They watched with baited breath as Sakaido plummeted into the well tumbling toward the landing point. He collided with the branch wrong and continued to fall through the treeline into the ground.</p><p>Instantly Momoki held up a finger. “Extract him, that counts as one.”</p><p>“Sir,” Wakashika leaned on the railing. “That was just a failed insert—”</p><p>Firmer, he called out. “One! I'm not screwing around with this. Narihisago, can you go again?”</p><p>“<em>Yeah.”</em> There was certainly no enthusiasm in it.</p><p>Momoki made the call and they watched Sakaido awkwardly make the landing. He looked up narrowing his eyes at Kaeru's body draped over the branch. Cocking his head, he took a step back to get a better look … and stepped right off the branch. Even before Sakaido's alarmed scream could be silence by the inevitable dead end, Momoki flicked his hand. “Extract now!”</p><p>He took a few steadying breaths, almost more forceful than Narihisago's from the chamber below. “Alright, that was two.”</p><p>Habutae muttered, “Third time's a charm?”</p><p>So it seemed it might be. Sakaido stuck the landing and stared up at the branches focusing his eyes at Kaeru's slack body. Short of the cue, he wasn't fully awakened to this purpose. The process had yet to begin. Momoki silently willed him to climb. Slowly, one limb at a time, Sakaido inched up through the dark foliage rising up.</p><p>Two golden orbs opened right in front of him. The speckled face of the leopard surged forward.</p><p>“Cue the damn cat.” Wakashika furrowed his brow. “Gotta give him props for being punctual.”</p><p>“Shit!” Momoki buried his face in his hands to the leopard roaring accompanied by Sakaido's garbled cries. “Extract him. We're terminating for now.”</p><p>Narihisago's panting echoed through the speaker. <em>“No … didn't you hear it?”</em></p><p>Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Momoki sighed. “What?”</p><p>“<em>The scream … there was a scream.”</em></p><p>“Yeah, that was you.” Wakashika laughed. “Or rather Sakaido … is he actually Sakaido if he hasn't seen Kaeru yet?”</p><p>Momoki lifted his head. “Narihisago, are you sure you heard something?”</p><p>“<em>Yes. Right as the leopard bared its fangs. Listen.”</em></p><p>Habutae grabbed the mark on the file and replayed it. Everyone remained dead silent. Sure enough the second the large cat bared its fangs, and the moment Sakaido turned in response to it, a faint scream could be heard off in the night trapped jungle.</p><p>Wakashika gawked. “How did he pick that up?”</p><p>“Does that answer your<em> is he still Sakaido </em>question?” Momoki sighed. “Narihisago, I know you're going to tell me you can dive again. The answer is no.”</p><p>“<em>There may not be time … ”</em></p><p>“What good are you if you can hardly stay in there for even a minute? You're fried. Until that dose washes out of you, it does us little good, and you more harm.”</p><p>“<em>Shit.”</em></p><p>“Guards, take him back to his cell. Narihisago, sleep off the rest of that. I'll have the medic give you the regular med on time and let me know when you're at your most lucid. We'll try again then. I won't accept an argument.”</p><p>There was a short pause before an exhale. <em>“Your call.”</em></p><p>The tone was deadpan, but Momoki heard the shame. “Hey, don't blame yourself. This is a setback, that's all. We've never tried medicated dives before. It's clear at this level it interferes. We're going to crack this case, just not now.”</p><p>Through the speakers he heard the click of the cuffs and the shuffle of feet.</p><p>Momoki whispered more to himself. “The setback is my fault, not yours.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pulling up the computer files in the Wellside's upper ring, now that the most of the day had ticked away approaching evening, Wakashika idly remarked, “What do a leopard, a mamushi, and a harpy eagle have in common?” He didn't wait long enough for a reply from the others. “An insatiable taste for Sakaido!”</p><p>He didn't so much as get a groan.</p><p>“<em>What did one sound-seeking boulder say to the other sound-seeking boulder?” </em>Everyone Wellside froze. The voice coming through the speaker was indeed Narihisago's, and yet it wasn't. It was … lively?<em>“Does this pipsqueak make my crack look big?” </em>And with a sense of humor?</p><p>Wakashika's fingers hung in the air, shock in his eyes. “Hold on … did someone switch him out?”</p><p>“<em>Nope. It's me, Wakashika.”</em></p><p>That just about made the deducer tumble backward. “How do you know my name?”</p><p>“<em>It's been a year. You're the one who talks way too much. Voice recognition is not that hard. Man, I would have loved to have observed your noisy ass in that boulder well during the incident. If I hadn't had my hands full trapping John Walker I would have dropped in just for kicks. Kinda surprised you made it out without becoming a coma-pancake.”</em></p><p>Momoki recovered himself, a smile on his face as he heard the relatively cheery patter from below … cheery for Narihisago.</p><p>Wakshika nearly knocked his headband out. “Seriously, dude? That's cold!”</p><p>And then … Narihisago laughed.</p><p>Momoki's jaw dropped at the genuine sound. Not from inside a well dive, where he heard a rare moment of mirth. Not a dry chuckle, but a full-on, wholehearted laugh. “Are you … actually … laughing? Damn it, I haven't heard that in … ”</p><p>“<em>Three years. I know. Sure has been a while.” </em>He took a long breath and let it out.</p><p>“Wait.” Wakashika held up a hand. “What the hell is going on? He seriously never sounded like this before.”</p><p>“<em>No shit, Sherlock. Do we need to discuss the rather euphoric properties of opioids for patients past the introductory phase? The functionality of the mu-receptors and how they play a role in mood modification … ”</em></p><p>Momoki watched as Wakashika mouthed like a goldfish but no sound came out. That was a true feat. He interrupted Narihisago before he went into full on lecture mode, “The Pinhole Case. So that was the <b>light</b> reading you'd done the night before.”</p><p>“<em>Hey, crack open a medical book once in a while, it's amazing what you pick up.”</em></p><p>“That case was five years ago, and yet you remember the element you used to solve it.”</p><p>“<em>Tsh, wasn't that hard. The guy'd been an addict looking for a way to just feel normal after his body adapted and left him in a pit of despair. His victims were his guinea pigs. The motive was obvious.”</em></p><p>Momoki chuckled. “To you. But still … this, it's still a bit surprising.”</p><p>“<em>Haha. What? That we've got a temporary reprieve from emotional atrophy? Whatever Araya gave me this time has an interesting side effect. Eh, truth is, I'm actually not euphoric. I'd call it closer to baselining. But that alone is probably a rather striking change to you guys, all things considered. I'm not holding out that this is going to stick … and I can hear your hope it will.” </em>His tone dropped a bit, growing more serious. <em>“Momoki, listen to me. It's for the same reason as the Pinhole Case's motive. I'm not going to become a narcotic addict just to feel normal again. In the long run that's a far darker path. Once I'm healed up, this is over.”</em></p><p>“Maybe there's some way … ”</p><p>“<em>Yeah sure. You know more than anyone what's been tried. I know you have administrative access to my medical records. Not interested. I understand the mechanics of the painkiller, but I can't explain what actually happened back then and why nothing worked before. I'm telling you you're going to have to let it go. It'll be better in the long run.” </em></p><p>“How can you just accept it?”</p><p>“<em>Because it's inevitable.”</em></p><p>Bowing his head, he shook it. “The shame is wasting this in a dive.”</p><p>“<em>Wasting? I wouldn't call catching a killer wasting anything—Well Director. Now, do your job. You've got me at a good stride. Let's use it to nail this bastard. No regrets. Let's pull that trigger.”</em></p><p>Momoki cringed. “That isn't something I want to hear you say. Ever.”</p><p>“<em>Alright, fair enough. Let's give Sakaido that solid run you need.”</em></p><p>“That's better. You ready? We really need to get that data after this long of a delay.”</p><p>“<em>Oh, I'm ready. There is a little something that's hard to explain about the dives. I don't actually remember the previous ones as Sakaido. However, there is a certain, how shall I put this … imprint of what happened before. It feeds into something akin to a reflex. A slight deja vu that slowly builds. Now that I'm not crippled by that stronger narcotic knocking me on my ass, I have a feeling you're going to get a lot more than a few minutes.”</em></p><p>“Good.” Momoki crossed his arms and stared into the digital well. “We'll need anything you can get us.”</p><p>“<em>You know me and challenges. This jungle can't keep it under wraps forever. This is an irresistible puzzle.”</em></p><p>“Damn, I wish you were always this chatty.”</p><p>He chuckled. <em>“Wouldn't get much done, though. Now are you going to hit the button or shall I, seeing as how I know where that panel is.”</em></p><p>“Don't you dare take my job from me!”</p><p>“<em>Hey, Wakashika.”</em></p><p>“Yeah?” He turned and leaned on the top railing.</p><p>“<em>Try and keep up.”</em></p><p>Red in the face Wakashika hid behind the computer images.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Sakaido stood above Kaeru, fully awakened. Senses keen in the muggy moonlit jungle. The place was eerily quiet, devoid of insect noise. The vine wrapped trees too tall with branches reaching out to one another forming a kind of gapped pathway in the dappled moonlight.</p><p>A nagging feeling nudged him away from Kaeru's mauled body. There was more to this than her. She was merely one piece of this hidden puzzle, just the start. He had to move.</p><p>The scrape of claws against the bark, caught his attention. Sakaido crouched down, closing his eyes to concentrate on the direction of the sound. Something was coming. It was large by the creak of the tree limb and the number of the leaves shifting. The body required a serious displacement.</p><p>Larger animal, the bigger the lungs.</p><p>Sakaido held his breath. The faint rasp off to his right, higher. Opening his eyes he looked up. The second he moved, the beast broke cover, massive claws first. Sakaido leapt forward, diving under the oncoming leopard and grasping a vine. It snapped from its anchor and he swung to a lower branch of another tree out of the big cat's immediate reach. Wasting no time, Sakaido dashed along the pathways of the branches chasing the shadows of the moon. A distant human scream caught his attention, setting his compass—deep into the night locked jungle.</p><p>
  <em>Kaeru is only part of the puzzle.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Ha! Did you see that? Did you see that? He totally went Tarzan. That was awesome.” Wakashika danced by his station.</p><p>Shaking his head, Habutae grabbed a few screen captures. “Ok, he's come across Kojima again. Presentation has not changed. However … would you look at that? Off to his left, the next tree over is that another hand?”</p><p>Wakashika narrowed his eyes. “Yeah. Dang it, … I don't think he's noticed it yet. Wait a sec, where was the damn bird?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The foliage overhead suddenly exploded as a massive harpy eagle dove through the canopy. Sakaido purposely threw his weight backward off the branch, catching it and hanging underneath in a parkour move. No time to even ponder how he knew that! It had worked, he vanished from the frustrated bird's talons, that was all that mattered. Hanging there like a monkey, a light colored object below him caught his attention. A blood encrusted hand sticking out of the leaves.</p><p><em>Give me a second, though I doubt you'll even notice. </em>Swinging his weight he crawled along on the underside of the branch and around the other side of the trunk just as the perched harpy eagle looked where he had been hanging, jabbing its savage beak into the empty space.</p><p>He waited in the cover of the trunk, listening as the harpy eagle shrieked in protest. From where he crouched he could just make out the body of a man cradled face up on the branches. Four distinct gashes on his neck as he stared vacantly at the night sky.</p><p>
  <em>This isn't a normal jungle. These aren't normal animals. Kaeru was slain by a leopard. The other woman, a harpy eagle. And from what I can tell from here, that man wasn't slain by either. Looks more like … punctures from a large …</em>
</p><p>Hiss!</p><p>He averted his gaze to find the gigantic snake coiled above him. The eyes watching him intensely.</p><p>
  <em>Mamushi. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Shiratake pushed his glasses up his nose. “These damn things are everywhere. But thus far I have still seen nothing that marks this place as a single distinct location. I am noticing one thing. The tree distribution feels very unnatural, vaguely like it's trying to resemble something.”</p><p>“This is defintely a better dive. We have another ID.” Habutae called out in the midst of slamming in high gear, shifting the files around. “Katsu Kinoshita. Missing person report from back in 2017, still unsolved. Filed when he failed to show up for work at Jinsokuna Torihiki. Recently promoted to head stock trader in his department. Apparently co-workers suspected the stress was too much and he ran for it.”</p><p>Wakashika rubbed his chin. “Looks like we're about to find the truth of that rumor. Don't think they knew him that well.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>In the dim light the snake flicked its tongue out, the coils slid over the man's corpse, claiming it. But the hungry gaze of the mamushi's eyes locked on Sakaido.</p><p>He offered it a cocky grin.</p><p>Slowly the mouth opened, venom dripping from the exposed fangs.</p><p>“Sorry, but I don't think I want to join you for dinner. My tastes run more towards keeping my pulse. But, thanks for the invite.” He hadn't kept his voice down.</p><p>Behind the trunk of the tree he heard the frenzied grip of the talons. Crouched, he pulled the long yellow scarf from his neck and cinched it around the branch he stood on, wrapping the ends around his hand. He snapped a twig as quietly as possible. Waiting as he watched the snake rear back ready to strike, that promise in its beady eyes. But it wasn't the only motion.</p><p><em>Now or never!</em> He threw the twig toward the snake. From behind the tree, the harpy eagle's beak stabbed toward the hissing mamushi, lashing at the thrown twig. It was pure chaos. The coils of the snake tangled around the eagle, trapping the wings. But the harpy eagle's talons locked around the head, pinning it to the branch.</p><p>Avoiding the thrashing beasts, Sakaido jumped over the edge hanging by the rolled grip on the scarf. Kicking his feet he swung himself above another branch and released his hold, dropping down neatly out of range of the competitive beasts. While re-donning the scarf, he dashed away from the ruckus leaping from terminating branches onto other ones in the maze of interconnected pathways. <em>Alright, this thing came in handy. That plan totally worked to get those two beasts off my back. Thankfully. Now … I need to get a better look at this place. Find out where the hell I am.</em></p><p>He looked up at the swaying canopy. The trunk wrapped in a tight climbing vine. <em>Hrm. That'll work. Going up.</em></p><p>Swift as he could, he shimmied up the vine choked branches to the break at the top. One hand on the trunk, he stood tall and stared out at the flat expanse of the jungle, taking in the interlocking trees beneath the moonlight. There was his confirmation this wasn't real.</p><p>
  <em>Nature doesn't do right angles. This is damn near a grid maze, or something like it. Laid out in a vaguely familiar pattern. Trees just don't do this without a lot of training. And I don't see anything that would have made them grow this way.</em>
</p><p>The swoop of wings caught his attention. The shadow cast overhead. Sakaido turned toward the moon to find the harpy eagle framed in the silver light, diving toward him.</p><p>“Done playing with your pal? Time to do me a favor.” Sakaido grasped the trunk and swung around it as the massive bird's momentum carried it past him in the dive. Circling around, he released his grip and dropped down on the bird's back, fingers plunging into a desperate grip on where the wings connected to the beast's body.</p><p>Flying!</p><p>The harpy eagle shrieked in annoyance, wings beating the air as it rose into the purple heavens. Wind whistled over the feathers with each flap.</p><p>“That's right, give me a bird's eye view.” The green valley stretched out perfectly flat. The maze of connecting branches formed a rigid design. Sakaido cocked his head as he followed the pattern. “What the heck? It looks like hallways … rooms … the layout of an office building!”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Togo's eyes widened. “Well, we're certainly gathering more information this time. As strange as it is.”</p><p>Momoki rubbed his chin. “Shiratake, anything familiar?”</p><p>Running through various screens, Shiratake took a moment to verify his searches. “Generic layout. Nothing that marks it as distinctive. But this is certainly a strange combination.”</p><p>Wakashika chewed on a nail. “Urban jungle?”</p><p>“Might not be that far off.”</p><p>“Still can't believe Sakaido hijacked the damn bird to give him a better view. Inspector, I've changed my mind, I'm liking this well now.”</p><p>Momoki lifted an eyebrow. “I'm wondering how he's going to get off without that thing shredding him.”</p><p>“Hold on!” Habutae grabbed several screen shots. “Sakaido's a friggin genius! He's noting the locations of all the bodies. They're too blurry in mid-flight to get identifications on. But we have one, two, three … there's another one for four. Yeah, combined with our knowns, that's six bodies in the well not counting Kaeru. We have a serial killer on our hands, alright.”</p><p>Momoki cracked a satisfied grin. “Heh, Narihisago told me we'd get the run we needed. Brilliant detective indeed. Let's catch this Predator.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tired of its passenger, the harpy eagle spiraled, trying to use gravity to unseat Sakaido. “Shit! Easy buddy. I don't have wings! And I'm pretty sure this coat isn't going to cut it for that.” The wind tearing at his loose clothing didn't help much. He clung like a tick as the ride got rougher and rougher. Somehow, he doubted he would get much more from another pass.</p><p>Now the hard part, ditching his ride without getting torn to pieces … and preferably close to one of the victims. The horizon tilted as his ride began a barrel roll. Sakaido dug his fingers in, fighting against gravity and the thrust of each flap of the wings. He gritted his teeth, the top of a tree came closer into his line of sight.</p><p>Beads of sweat became airborne, dripping upward from his perspective.</p><p>
  <em>Almost there … almost … </em>
</p><p>At the last second he released his grip on the feathers of the inverted bird and shot his hands toward the tree top grasping the branch and pulling himself free. As he tumbled, he delivered a swift kick to the harpy eagle's eye sending it reeling back toward the heavens, screaming its pained rage.</p><p>Taking advantage of that moment, he shimmied down into the shadows, waiting for the raptor to take another pass overhead before dropping further down the trunk beside the body of a man. This one had been gored by a leopard, no doubt. Once more the same pattern of four marks.</p><p>Sakaido narrowed his eyes, tracing the deep claw gashes. “Real predators eat their prey. These are mirrors, reflections of something. A scar. This predator marks them, savagely. Deep. I would bet the rest of the victims will be the same. But it begs the question … Why reflect it on others? Why mar them in such a specific way?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Seiichi Sasaki, from his drivers license photo. Currently no report. Assume this might be the source of the cognition particles.” Habutae shifted the files around, sending them out to the others. “He works at Janguru Neko no Torihiki, a local trading firm. Not married. Looks to have been a company man on the fast track to the top.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Sakaido studied the tree paths, closing his eyes for a moment to picture the aerial map and the relationship. In the shadows of the trees it was darker than above. But that didn't mean it couldn't be navigated. He had a vague idea of the direction he needed to go. Darting off toward the general bearings of the closest victim, he wound his way through the leaf strewn corridors.</p><p>A frantic scream froze him. Crouched, he listened trying to place the source. It was far below and a long way off. From his perch he spied the leopard darting through the trees. The beast stalked down through the network of branches on a mission.</p><p>Sakaido's blood ran cold. “It's hunting.” Gritting his teeth he took a deep breath, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Hey, Spot! Up here, boy!”</p><p>Instantly the leopard snapped its lethal gaze toward him. The claws out, glistening in the moonlight. It roared and leapt up onto the trunk of a tree in a shower of shredded bark. It started to ascend toward him, leaping from tree to tree. Each pump of the muscles stood out. That was one bad ass cat.</p><p>“Ok, that got its attention. Now what?” Sakaido took a step back, his folly suddenly struck him. “Uh oh. Why did I do that?” It was gaining. Fast. Very fast. “Shit!”</p><p>Swift as he could, he ran full tilt into the dense part of the jungle. The crash of the gigantic leopard galloping as it gained the overhead advantage loaned him haste. A choice presented itself. There was the long way full of twists and ninety degree turns …</p><p>Or, … Sakaido narrowed his eyes and increased his speed ignoring the slap of the branches as he gritted his teeth and instead of turning on the direct connecting path, launched out over a wide gap. As his foot left the branch it pitched downward under the impact of the leopard. His coat stretched out almost like wings as he clawed at the air, hoping like hell he'd put enough into that, or it was really going to hurt! Glancing down he couldn't even see the ground in the ravenous darkness.</p><p>
  <em>That looks welcoming! </em>
</p><p>Pitched forward he tumbled into a shoulder rolled landing and eventually skidded on his feet, sending leaves and bark tumbling down like rain.</p><p>The leopard didn't leap straight for him. Instead the beast turned back, stabbing its claws into the trunks and climbing up into the higher reaches.</p><p>“What the hell? He would have had me if he's just leapt!” Sakaido didn't waste the opportunity. He scrambled through the branches leaving the cat to seek out a higher elevation. Losing his pursuer in the dense foliage, he leaned in the protection of a trunk and panted to catch his breath. <em>Seriously … every attack has been from above. Why above? Power? Something about superiority … </em>he looked down and glimpsed the next corpse draped in the tree. <em>Not superiority. </em></p><p>
  <em>Inferiority!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“What?” Wakashika grasped his head. “How did he jump to that conclusion?”</p><p>Togo glanced up. “Maybe because all of the attacks have been from above. This last one showed a real obsession with that status. It's not the murder itself, but the orientation in which it takes place.”</p><p>Habutae barked out, “Got another ID. Kichiro Hirayama. Found deceased in 2013 on a camping trip. His last place of employment was Yaban'na Torihiki where he was a financial adviser. Check out the crime scene photos.” He pushed them out to the other screens. When the windows popped up the Wellside staff took sharp breaths almost as one. “Four slashes to the neck. The park ranger had never seen an animal do something like this, but given the rural environment, they assumed it to be a wildlife attack from maybe an escaped zoo animal and closed the case.”</p><p>Wakashika covered his mouth as he narrowed his eyes. “Holy hell, that's creepy. Look in the well image. It matches perfect. And in here it was a—”</p><p>Sakaido's voice beat him to the punch. <em>“That harpy eagle got him.”</em></p><p>“Seriously? Can't he let me get one thing in?”</p><p>Momoki raised a hand. “It's not important who gets the clues first so much as finding the killer. Remember, he can't hear us.”</p><p>Wakashika glowered. “That's what makes it more frustrating when he puts it together.”</p><p>“Technically speaking, the pilot has more experience than you. Don't take it so hard.” Momoki eyed him. “We're getting a lot more from this dive, let's get the real world connections Sakaido doesn't have access to.”</p><p>Togo held up her phone. “I just got a message from Hondomachi. Her plane just landed and she can be here within the hour if we need her to dive.”</p><p>Momoki stared at the well's activity as Sakaido nimbly wove through the limbs toward the next victim. “Have her join Matsuoka in the field.”</p><p>“Sir?” She raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“There's no way I'm going to pull him from this now. He's in deep and making connections. We need his level of insight now. If we started over with Hondomachi it would be a major setback back to square one.”</p><p>Togo held up her phone showing the time. “Inspector, I want you to make note of the time and remember that Doctor Araya wanted him out of the well a full half hour before his next painkiller dose. We're not at that mark, but we are closing in on it.”</p><p>He stared at it for a moment and shook his head. “For now, we keep going and hope we get the breakthrough in the next hour.”</p><p>“And if we don't?”</p><p>He locked eyes with her, silence stretched out.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sakaido wiped his brow, his hair caked to the skin. Each breath was like sucking in the air inside a sauna. The oppressive jungle heat beat at him despite the perpetual night. Not to mention the fact that in his haste to escape the leopard he had more or less stumbled on the next victim. He knew there were more. Remembering precisely where in the twisted pathways that he had lost his bearings from the stolen flight was the issue now.</p><p>Hours had passed, hours of straining to listen above the pounding of his heartbeat, holding back the ragged gasp of his panted breathing. The thick leaves concealed dangers that proved in triplicate. One moments lapse and he could do nothing to find the source of the terrified scream. Of anything, that drove him. He wasn't alone in this forest of death. Someone else was trapped here as well, and just might know more about why.</p><p>Kneeling beside another body draped over the branches staring up at him with glazed eyes, he ran his fingers over the wound on the neck. “I'll be damned, four slashes to the neck. Looks like the mamushi took him. Nothing else distinguishing. They've all been dressed differently. Ages are varied, mostly young adult. Four men and a woman. One by a leopard, two by the harpy eagle, and two by the snake.”</p><p>He rose to his feet and stared into the jungle toward where he hoped it would be. “And one more known victim … if it matches the pattern? Leopard.”</p><p>Darting off along the path he made for the target.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“We got an ID?” Momoki stared at the growing screen captures.</p><p>After only a slight delay Habutae called out. “One Ban Yoshiaki. Reported missing in 2015 after not showing up for a company gathering to celebrate recent promotions, he was among them. Didn't show up for any working days after that. Jinsokuna Torihinki. Police recovered his remains near a river in 2017. Far too decomposed to gather true cause of death.”</p><p>Wakashika rubbed his chin. “I solved it. He was murdered.”</p><p>Shiratake gave a short huff of a laugh.</p><p>“That much is clear now. We can't fault them for not having this data back then.” Momoki shifted the screens. “Connections between victims?”</p><p>Now Wakashika went into higher gear. “Kojima aside, the other victims are all tied to similar businesses. She's the odd one out. The three places of work are all trading firms. Yoshiaki and Kinoshita worked at Jinsokuna. Hirayama was at Yaban'na years before and Sasaki worked at Janguru. Their type of work appears to be a connection. None of them appeared to have working relationships, however.”</p><p>“And,” Shiratake took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “we do have the layout of the jungle resembling an office. So there is apparently a link buried in here somewhere.”</p><p>“With our next leopard victim.”</p><p>“You might be right, Inspector.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Dropping down through the tangle of the vines, Sakaido's tongue stuck to his the roof of his mouth. He longed for a river, or some moisture trapped in the leaves. All he had was the salty sweat dripping down his forehead as he maneuvered toward the final known victim.</p><p>A shadow swooped overhead above the canopy. He hugged the trunk tight and fought to keep his breathing silent as possible. The harpy eagle screamed out and winged off over the jungle.</p><p>Sakaido scrambled along the pathway the final few twists and turns at last reaching the body lying in the branches. “Alright, leopard here we … oh.” He crouched down. “No? What the hell. I got the count wrong. That's from talons.”</p><p>Staring down into the dark void he narrowed his eyes. “Victims. One to the leopard, two to mamushi, three to the harpy eagle? Escalating? No … this one is less recent.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Inspector, he's on to something.” Habutae drew up another file. “Earlier indeed. Ichirou Hase, reported missing in 2013 during a family vacation. Never found. No ties to the financial district, he was a doctor. So that breaks the direct link to the businesses. He wasn't even a client of them.”</p><p>“Keep digging. There must be some thread linking everyone, no matter how obscure. Someone common.”</p><p>“Bringing up the company records and running a scan for employees and clients. This will take a bit, we're talking a lot of years and these are large firms.”</p><p>Momoki nodded. “Keep on it.”</p><p>Wakashika ran a hand through his hair. “Two outliers now. Kojima and Hase. Are they the key to this?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Still lingering beside the victim, Sakaido scratched his head. “I'm missing something here. It feels incomplete … aside from the beasts still wandering around trying to kill me. There is that.” He gave a short laugh. “It's not a gap. Why three, two, one? Competition? Inferiority? Trying to outdo one another? Each with the same mark … the reflection of a scar. This one … it's particularly deep, scored in multiple times as if raked in, over and over.”</p><p>He closed his eyes, recalling the others. “None of the others were like that … wait, except for the woman. She had the repeated slashes, making them deeper.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>The terrified scream carried up from far below. Sakaido leaned over the edge, eyes narrowed in the search. There deep in the shadows he spied a lone woman running at a break neck speed through the choked pathways. Behind her, shifting in the leaves, the dappled coat of the leopard.</p><p>“Shit!” Grasping a vine, Sakaido swung out into the void in a rapid repel. “It's three, two, two!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Come on, get me an ID on that last one! Looks like she might be alive!” Momoki shouted.</p><p>“Working on it. Damn these shadows, he needs to get closer. I can't see her face enough for a facial recognition scan.”</p><p>Every eye locked on the screens. The wells digital display showed Sakaido's rapid controlled descent deeper into the well's center as he raced to beat the stalking leopard to its prey. Branches snapped and whipped at him in the process, but it did nothing to stop his breakneck speed.</p><p>Togo tugged on Momoki's sleeve. “I hate to mention it, but … ” She showed him the time.</p><p>His breath caught in his chest. He pushed her hand aside. “Shit! I can't pull him now.”</p><p>“Sir, we're going to be pushing the window—again.”</p><p>“Look at him, he's making serious headway.” He swallowed the lump of growing anxiety, thoughts swirling as the burden of his decision lashed him. “No. He'd be pissed if I pulled him now. Besides, I can feel what he knows.” He thrust a finger toward the holographic id well. “Whoever this is, that's the next victim. We stand a chance of intervening. If we pull him now we lose that chance.”</p><p>Wakashika leaned over the railing. “I've never seen him quite this focused.”</p><p>“It's his drive not to fail again.” Momoki narrowed his eyes. “And I don't mean Sakaido's. Damn it … why this now!”</p><p>“Inspector—”</p><p>Rounding on Togo he shouted, “Have the medic on standby outside the door. But we're not terminating!”</p><p>He hit a button connecting the Bluetooth and in a moment Matsuoka's voice came over the speaker. <em>“Got something?”</em></p><p>“I think we will soon. Is Hondomachi with you?”</p><p>Her voice piped up. <em>“Yup. Are you sure you don't need me there? I heard this was a real tricky one.”</em></p><p>“Narihisago's got a handle on it now. Be ready, we think there is current activity.”</p><p>“<em>As in a current victim?”</em></p><p>The leopard in the well raced downward, closing the distance. The vibe he got gave him the chills.</p><p>“Yes. I would stake my reputation on that.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Lungs on fire, Sakaido tore down through the jungle spying the immense cat prowling through the branches. The victim ran blindly into the ever darkening abyss where the moonlight faltered. He had to stop the beast somehow. No way to reach the woman yet. And this creature would eat him alive if he tried to fight it. He couldn't do anything dead, so that was not an option.</p><p>The only course was to derail it. Seizing a mass of vines, Sakaido employed his own speeding weight to yank them down the final descent blocking the leopard's path with a shower of debris. He lost his hold on them, tumbling down the branches like a pinball until he rolled out onto the jungle floor.</p><p>Darkness.</p><p>Lying on his back he stared into the spires of the trees rising up all around him, swaying in the breeze as the jungle breathed.</p><p>Not the jungle. Something else was breathing, and it wasn't the sound of his own breath.</p><p>Rolling onto his feet. He felt around for a large stick. An old piece of dry rotted branch served him. Probing hands discovered stones. He tried striking one pair. Nothing. Discarding one, he picked another and struck. Still nothing. Once more.</p><p>A spark! Flint.</p><p>Quickly he struck them together in rapid succession over the thicker end of the stick. It took a moment, then a fire blazed to light. Lifting the makeshift torch, it cast flickering fingers into the darkness. They stroked at the thick tree trunks.</p><p>The fire blazed gold in the orbs as he shifted his only light source slowly in a circle, teasing the outlines of the leering beasts congregated on the branches above him. Harpy eagle, mamushi, leopard … only—not just three.</p><p>Sakaido swallowed. There were three harpy eagles, two mamushi, and two leopards in a semi circle with their murderous eyes locked on him. Every single one of them prepped to end him.</p><p>“Well, this explains how fast you all were.” He hadn't been maneuvering from three... but from seven.</p><p>His eyes focused on something strange in the firelight. Taking a step closer, he blinked at the spots of the leopard's paw, both of the extra large cats. They bore an identical marking in the same place. The fur forming a very unnatural pattern that looked like a wildcat's silhouette roaring in a circle.</p><p>“What the … ?”</p><p>But before he could examine it further, the leopard on the edge of the semi circle peeled off and vanished into the jungle.</p><p>
  <em>The screamer!</em>
</p><p>“Oh no, you don't!” Gripping the torch he stepped to follow. The remaining beasts surged forward, blocking his way.</p><p>“I don't have time for this bullshit!” He waved the fire in their faces catching their attention before he threw it right into the middle of them. Chaos broke out. Feather, scales, and fur flew as they thrashed away from the bright fireball.</p><p>Sakaido darted headlong into the opening, leaping over the tumbling torch and racing into the thick jungle. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was chasing death.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Ok, that was a logo!” Wakashika pointed at the screen, focusing in on the leopard spot pattern. “I've seen it before … yes! Janguru Neko no Torihiki, look at the company logo. A roaring leopard in a circle. If that was on both of them, what about the others?”</p><p>He ran a filter looking for matches on the feather and scale patterns. “Holy shit! Inspector, it's been in front of our faces this whole time. Yaban'na Torihiki's logo has a harpy eagle, and Jinsokuna's is a coiled mamushi. The logos are branded right on the id well creatures.” He pushed the screen captures to the others. “Ties to the company. Run the victims in order and aside from the first two, the animal that killed each of them in the well was the symbol for their employer!”</p><p>Momoki stiffened, leaning over the significant screens. “There is no doubt. So there has to be someone. And they're after whoever is running from the leopard in that well. I suspect an employee at Janguru Neko … but that still leaves the first two unconnected.”</p><p>“Wait, I missed this earlier!” Habutae pointed at the reports. “Kojima and Hase. They're siblings. She has a different name through marriage.” A moment later his eyes flashed to another screen, the search completed. Tracing his finger down the list, he paused and cross referenced something. “No way! I think we got our link.”</p><p>“Who are we looking for?”</p><p>A photo appeared at the top of a file. “Saburo Hase, the younger brother of Hase and Kojima. He worked at all three of the companies during the disappearances and deaths of all of the remaining victims. Including being employed at Yaban'na Torihiki for Hase and Kojima.”</p><p>Wakashika cracked a grin. “Marked by the harpy eagle! And would you look at that?” He zoomed into the collar of the shirt of Saburo Hase's employee photo. “There's a faint scar on his neck. Wanna bet that there are four lines under his shirt?”</p><p>“Issue the warrant for the arrest of Saburo Hase.”</p><p>Wakashika blinked. “Damn it, Sakaido nailed something else. Saburo means <em>third son</em> … inferiority? That would absolutely suck. Never able to change his station, never number one.”</p><p>“Inspector.” Shiratake held up a hand. “If this update is real time, I don't think they'll find him at home. Something looks different about down here.”</p><p>“Different?”</p><p>“Vaguely familiar. We're not in the office down here. Look, it's more curved. Natural, like a running path.”</p><p>“Which one?”</p><p>Shiratake pushed his glasses up. “Not enough to go on, yet.” He flicked through screen grabs fighting to tease something out.</p><p>“Hurry. We need to know if this is a real location.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Through the dense underbrush of the jungle, bracken snapped as the immense paws of the leopard tore a path. Sakaido's lungs ached, his muscles screamed for him to stop as he pushed further sprinting as fast as he could. Swatting the debris out of the way, he vaulted over the larger objects. The leopard's pounding strides receded, traded for a shower of bark.</p><p>
  <em>Shit! It's climbing for the kill. </em>
</p><p>As those sounds muffled he caught the shrill rasp of the woman's frantic breathing. She wasn't far now, but he willed her to keep running.</p><p>Out of the corner of his eye he caught the dappled coat leaping from one branch to another off to his left. Skidding under a lower limb, he shoved a large leaf aside and saw her. Hair in a pony tail, dressed in a jogging suit, she ran full tilt not even sparing a glance over her shoulder.</p><p>The leopard's claws dug into the bark, murderous rage in its eyes as it collected itself for the lunge.</p><p>
  <em>No you don't!</em>
</p><p>Sakaido vaulted over a branch and put his momentum into a forward dive. His arms caught around her waist, and took them both into a rolling tumble through a tight gap between two trees. The leopard soared by, screaming and trying to jackknife mid-dive. But its raking paw only caught the wood sending it in splinters.</p><p>Rolling to his feet, Sakaido grabbed the woman's wrist. “Run!”</p><p>She stumbled forward leaden feet by panic, blinded by tears.</p><p>The leopard reared around, slashing at the tight trees blocked the direct path. Spatters of hot saliva struck the surrounding leaves.</p><p>“No time!” Ducking down, Sakaido lifted her in a piggy back and started weaving through, using the tighter growth as protection. Behind them, the leopard searched noisily for a path to higher ground.</p><p>“What's happening?” She held tight around his neck, almost too tight.</p><p>“I was hoping you knew.” He panted. “What's you name?”</p><p>“Yume. Yume Oishi. That thing is going to kill us!”</p><p>He huffed a laugh. “I kinda figured that out.” Stealing a quick glance over his shoulder his foot caught on a root and he tumbled to the ground. Overhead the branches of a weeping cherry tree swayed in the breath of the jungle. Petals fluttering down in a gentle cascade that defied the aggression of the jungle.</p><p>Oishi landed in a heap beside him, grasping herself in a terrified hug. “I don't want to die! Please, don't let that thing kill me!”</p><p>Paws gripped the bark. Two savage eyes bore down on them from above knocking down a fresh shower of blossoms.</p><p>Sakaido rolled onto his feet in a crouch between the leopard and its intended victim. He met its hostile glare with one of his own. “You and your kind have had enough. I see you for what you are.”</p><p>The leopard raised an immense paw with its claws bared and roared, fangs dripping with saliva.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Confirmed. Yume Oishi is employed at Janguru. Recently promoted, just like the others.” Habutae called out.</p><p>Wakashika shook his head, staring at the profiles of the victims. “Hase took them down right after he'd been passed up for a promotion, every time. Damn.”</p><p>“Sir, weeping cherry trees, that's our spacial clue.” Shiratake flicked the screen to Momoki. “Exclusive to Shinjuku Gyoen park!”</p><p>“Matsuoka, did you hear that?”</p><p>“<em>On our way. Two minutes out.”</em></p><p>Momoki stared into the well as Sakaido held his ground, only a few feet between him and the trunk of the cherry tree, a petrified Oishi clinging to it. Nowhere for them to go. Sakaido was thoroughly trapped, but by his defiant stance showed no signs of backing down.</p><p>His shout echoed against the Wellside walls,<em> “You and your kind have had enough. I see you for what you are.” </em></p><p>“Please be right. Please let Oishi still be alive.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Shinjuku Gyoen park sprawled in the shadows of the moonlight. Matsuoka and Hondomachi swept along the deserted pathways accompanied by the SWAT team. Matsuoka lifted his phone glancing at the screen capture of the weeping cherry tree and trying to match it to one of the many real ones, of course they weren't in bloom like the one in the id well.</p><p>“Hondomachi,” he whispered to her, “since you've been in these things, how does this work? Is there a real tree?”</p><p>She gave him a sideways stare. “Open your eyes. There are lots of real trees. We are in a park after all.”</p><p>“No, what I mean is, is this a specific tree in the id well? One we'll find here.”</p><p>“Depends.” Moving further along the path she intended to leave it at that when Matsuoka pressed forward.</p><p>“On what?”</p><p>Hondomachi sighed. “A number of things. But,” she gave a rather sly smile his way, “you really should ask the expert on that.”</p><p>He held his phone in the air, staring off into the distance. “You don't mean … ”</p><p>Hondomachi clasped her hands behind her back and spun, walking backward as she replied knowingly, “Narihisago.”</p><p>His expression couldn't have been more sour if he'd had a mouthful of spoiled milk.</p><p>Just as she turned back her arm flew up into a swift point. “There!” At the crest of a hill stood a large weeping cherry tree matching the shape of the one within the well. Beneath the limbs a dark figure moved. She darted forward flanked by the SWAT officers.</p><p>The glint of a knife shimmered in the moonlight.</p><p>The frantic scream of a woman unable to capture a full breath.</p><p>Hondomachi's brow furrowed. No way she was going to let this bastard have a second more. As fast as her short legs could carry her she threw her weight against the dark dressed man, pummeling him across the grassy hill and into the base of the tree. The knife tumbled off into the darkness. She grabbed his forearms and leaned all her weight into pinning him as she straddled his chest.</p><p>The man who snarled up at her was the one from the photo, Saburo Hase. Unassuming in stature, he thrashed beneath her. “I'm not finished!”</p><p>“The hell you aren't. Saburo Hase, your ass is under arrest.”</p><p>“No, I'm not done. That promotion should have been mine. That bitch doesn't deserve it.” As he thrashed, the collar of his shirt fell open revealing four old scars in parallel lines on the side of his neck, low enough that only two would peek above a normal suit.</p><p>“Hrm, you're a piece of work.”</p><p>SWAT officers moved in and took over, wrestling him into cuffs.</p><p>No longer needed there, Hondomachi brushed herself off and walked back to Matsuoka crouched by the terrified Yume Oishi. Dressed in running gear, she had a few scrapes from being tackled, but the knife had not touched her skin. Oishi buried her face in Matsuoka's shoulder unable to speak a coherent word.</p><p>He glanced up, still holding her. “She's going to be alright. But we should probably send her to the hospital to get looked at for her sake.”</p><p>Hondomachi pulled out her phone. “On it.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <b>~ID~</b> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Yume Oishi is alive. Scraped up a bit, but she's ok.”</em> Hondomachi's voice popped over the channel. <em>“And Hase is in custody, we nailed the bastard in the act! Boy, is he pissed. But he's no match for SWAT, trust me on that one.”</em></p><p>Cheers went up all around. “Nice work, everyone. Togo, you can extract Sakaido now. That's a dive for the books, can you believe that? ” Momoki heaved a sigh of relief.</p><p>At his side Togo went rigid. “Sir, we have a serious problem.”</p><p>He paused to listen, something was missing. Where was the startled gasp of Narihisago coming out of the dive? “What? A problem with the extraction again?” He glanced over her shoulder.</p><p>“I hit the button. Narihisago's out. But his vitals aren't just unstable—they're crashing.”</p><p>Momoki's eyes whipped to the chamber monitor, even in the dim lighting something looked wrong. He lay slumped in the cockpit far too slack. “What? Open the door, get the medic in there! Now!”</p><p>
  <em>What have I done?</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Over the speaker a rush of footsteps filled the Wellside's silence. No one spoke, they stood, wide-eyed and listened.</p><p>
  <span>Doctor Araya's tense voice barked, </span>
  <em>“Son of a—well this isn't good. Both of you, give me a hand, now! We don't have much time.”</em>
</p><p>Momoki opened the access. His feet not waiting for the stairs to complete the pathway, he leapt down the last few of the winding case and rushed to the open doorway.</p><p>Araya stared at his tablet on the floor, fixed on the numbers, several of which were flashing in red. Narihisago lay sprawled on his back on the floor where they had dragged him from the cockpit, his skin an ashy tone as Araya held his left arm up injecting something into the limp limb. “Come on! Respond, damn it!”</p><p>“What's going on?” Momoki edged into the chamber, keeping to the side as a guard on duty placed an oxygen mask over Narihisago's nose and loosely open mouth. Momoki couldn't help but note then how fast and shallow he was breathing. The faint blossom of condensation never quite having the chance to fade before the next one.</p><p>Araya muttered aloud. “Blood pressure bottoming out, hyperventilation, tachycardia, hypothermia … we've got a helluva perfect storm here. Momoki, I told you not to do this and you flat out ignored me.”</p><p>“I know, I'm sorry we're late on the window.”</p><p>He still didn't blink from the readout. “It's not that. We've gone way beyond pain management here. He's still healing, with resources going to that process. Normally the load of hours of diving are no big deal to him, he's acclimated to the strain. But right now he's compromised.” Araya stiffened, his finger touched the pad bringing up the window showing the pulse. The rapid scribble on the screen was changing, the peaks and valleys shrinking. “Damn it! Narihisago, don't you start to flat line on me! Come on, no cardiac arrest. I don't know if CPR would rupture what's still healing in you and make things more of a mess. Hang in there.”</p><p>That was hardly a tone of confidence. Ice traveled through his own veins. “What's wrong with him?”</p><p>“He's in adrenal crisis. Burnt out his adrenaline to the point there isn't enough left in his system to keep him alive. That's what happens to a body on inhibitors, especially one with a consciousness detached so it misses the damn warning signs telling it to back the hell off! How many times do I have to tell you that there is still a physical draw on the body!”</p><p>Momoki's knees trembled, threatening to buckle. Togo's warnings echoed, her question of if Narihisago would go all out … who's choice was that? He caught his weight on the wall.</p><p>Araya hit the tablet again, returning to the full readout still bleeding in red numbers. He pointed to the cockpit. “This thing you are using isn't just a machine. There is a living, breathing component to it that isn't so easy to fix. Let me give you a visual. In a car if you run out of gas, the engine stalls. But it will sit there and wait, hours even days. You can restart it once you get more fuel in the tank.” He threw Momoki a dark look. “You run out of adrenaline? Muscles stall, including the heart. But the body can't just wait by the side of the road for a refill. It just dies. Last time I checked my family name isn't Frankenstein.”</p><p>The doctor's eyes darted back to the screen. “Thank heavens, there's a flicker. He's responding to the corticosteroid … barely, but it's at least encouraging he'll live long enough I stand a chance to fully pull his ass out of this mess.” Reaching into the kit he pulled out an IV and started to probe for a vein. “At least he isn't seizing. That would have made things worse.” After cleaning the patch of skin he inserted the needle and cursed, feeling around again. “Oh great, just what I need … come on, where did you go you flighty little bastard. He's dehydrated, shrunken veins are a bitch to find. I better not have to resort to a central line in him. If I have to do that, he'll be going straight to the medical unit and I'd be tempted not to let you get him back.”</p><p>A moment later the line flushed a bit of blood. Araya threw Momoki a hard glare. “You are seriously lucky.” He snapped the bag of saline in place and handed it to the guard to hold up. “The next few hours are going to be a real grind. Hope that was worth it.”</p><p>He tried to find the words. “We … we saved a life.”</p><p>“Mmm hmm.” Araya checked the read out. “You know, a normal person wouldn't have held on like this. This is a theory, but it wouldn't surprise me if when Narihisago's consciousness re-entered his body and realized the shit had hit the fan it was waiting for someone to hit the button and reset things again. A brain not used to that kind of mental acrobatics wouldn't have buffered enough. The heart would have just … stopped.”</p><p>Watching the subtle rapid rise and fall of Narihisago's chest, Momoki wondered aloud, “Is he even conscious? Did we even successfully bring him back out?”</p><p>“Conscious? I doubt he is at the moment. As for the latter? I won't be able to tell you that until I get him stable enough that consciousness is even an option.” He gestured to the readout. “We're about a quarter of the way back to a normal pulse. He's gone back to a standard sinus rhythm, though that's still far shallower than I want to see. At least his blood pressure is registering again instead of erroring. Do you have any idea how low that bar is? Seriously. For the next forty-eight hours you are banned from access to him. Is that understood?”</p><p>Shamefully, Momoki nodded as a couple of medics brought in a stretcher passing him by without even looking his way.</p><p>“I don't think you comprehend just how serious this could have been. If I hadn't been outside this door, there wouldn't have been time to prevent full cardiac arrest.”</p><p>The medics lifted Narihisago. He sagged in their hold head lolling back, completely unresponsive.</p><p>“I can monitor him from his cell with a few supplies as long as things don't get worse. We'll get things set up. You two, I'll need you to stick around the cell block for a couple hours just in case things take a turn.”</p><p>Without looking at Momoki, they lifted the stretcher and hauled him out. The last thing he saw was Narihisago's eyes shut to the world, the faint puff of condensation with each of his feeble breaths against the oxygen mask proof he was still alive. His skin … deathly pale. His expression slack … like in the well deaths … only, this was reality.</p><p>“We saved a life … and nearly cost him … his. What have I done?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Soma and Hagashi each gripped the arm of Saburo Hase, his hands cuffed behind his back. The newest Kura inmate was a handful as they shoved him into the cell. All worked up, he hadn't stopped talking since they had taken him from the HQ's transfer van after processing. Hase wasn't a large man, and frankly he wasn't even imposing. When he did manage to shut his mouth for a few seconds he looked like the average office worker. The moment he opened his mouth it was clear those days were over.</p><p>“Over. Above. It is I who look down on the world. My world! No one else will ever look down on me again. You hear that brother? You hear that sister? You lied to mom and dad. But they believed you. They always believed perfect Ichirou! And Noa, their precious little Noa. The way you both marked me as a child. That was no accident you weren't just playing, I saw the look in your eyes when you did it, taking your turns. But now, I have shown you. I have a way to be number one. Always number one. Because that is everything.”</p><p>Hagashi rolled his eyes. “This guy's a lively one.”</p><p>“Some of them can be.” Just inside the cell, they removed the cuffs and backed out, closing the door before Hase could turn. “Enjoy your stay.”</p><p>Hase paced in a circle, hands raised as he continued to rant to his unseen murdered siblings.</p><p>Taking out his phone, Soma dialed Momoki. “Inspector?”</p><p>“<em>Soma, is the transfer complete?”</em></p><p>“Yeah, we got him settled in. Well, settled is a relative term. This one's pretty unhinged.”</p><p>“<em>Somehow not surprising. I have to ask, did he have a scar?”</em></p><p>He raised an eyebrow. “Uhh yeah. Slash marks to the side of the neck. Look pretty old since they show signs of stretching. Childhood maybe?”</p><p>“<em>Four?”</em></p><p>“Wow, how did you know?”</p><p>“<em>Just a bit of an inkling from what we saw in the well. Speaking of which, any chance you can go near Narihisago's cell?”</em></p><p>Soma only had to turn around. Putting the newest inmate across from Narihisago was not his idea, but the new head of security who decided he knew better than his subordinate. Normally this was the<b> last</b> cell they filled. No one could say Soma hadn't warned his supervisor. “Yeah. Why?” The moment he turned his breath locked in his chest, the reason for Momoki's question now obvious. Narihisago lay on his back under a thermal blanket with an IV in his arm and an oxygen mask on his face. His eyes were shut, dark circles beneath them made far worse by the paler than usual complexion. He looked terrible. “Holy shit … what happened?”</p><p>Momoki sighed. <em>“I take it that means he's still unconscious after the dive.”</em></p><p>A jolt ran through Soma. “He dove? But isn't he still … ”</p><p>“<em>Yes. Please, just tell me he's not in a coma.”</em></p><p>Soma watched him breathing for a full minute. Beneath the blanket he stirred, shifting his weight slightly to the right side. “Well, he just moved, so I don't think so. Damn, he looks wiped. How long had he been diving?”</p><p>“<em>That's a small relief. The first runs, collectively five and half hours. After a forced break we had a single four hour dive that teased out Hase and interrupted his next kill. So … it was a success … with an extreme cost. Doctor Araya isn't answering me at the moment.”</em></p><p>“Eh, well, I can see why. I mean, I've seen Narihisago exhausted after a dive before. But not quite like this.”</p><p>“<em>Hey Soma, do me a favor and keep an eye on him. If you can, tell him I'm really sorry.”</em></p><p>He stared at Narihisago and shook his head. “Might be a bit, but sure.”</p><p>“<em>Thanks.”</em></p><p>He tucked his work phone away and shook his head at the sight. “Damn.”</p><p>Shuffled footsteps echoed down the hall. Soma turned to find Araya carrying a large thermos of coffee. His half open eyes bagged. He lifted the thermos as he opened the door to Narihisago's cell. “Been a rough night.”</p><p>“Sure looks like it. Hey, how is he?”</p><p>Taking his seat by the bed, Araya looked at his tablet. “Alive, and remarkably close to waking up. By the looks of things he might be cracking his eyes open within the hour. Damn he's one tough son of a bitch.”</p><p>Narihisago stirred again, taking a deep breath he released it in a low moan, muffled through the oxygen mask.</p><p>Araya reached over and tapped the controls of the oxygen flow, watching the stats on the readout respond. “This is going to be a fun little dance.” He frowned.</p><p>Lingering by the cell's door panel, Soma scratched his head. “Shouldn't he be in the medical unit?”</p><p>“It's a pain in the neck to treat a cuffed patient. Much easier down here where I can ignore that protocol. Besides, at the moment it's a bit ridiculous. If he tries to do too much of anything he's going to black out anyway. So there is no risk.”</p><p>The sliver of a gleam caught Soma's attention. Narihisago's eyelids had cracked open. The color barely visible through gap. It was obvious he was struggling to keep them from closing. Every blink taking painfully long. He tried to stir. A grimace creased his eyes.</p><p>Araya leaned over and huffed a breath. “That was quicker than expected. Now, listen to me. Take it easy. I need you conscious for a bit to check a few things.”</p><p>Narihisago had a hard time focusing his eyes on Araya. The pupils wandered seemingly of their own accord. To Soma it remained questionable just how conscious he truly was.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You're going to be alright, Aki. I've got you.” <em>Ayako? Is that her hand on my back? Why does my chest hurt? Why can I barely breathe? Shit, I'm coughing so hard I can't keep my eyes open. But her gentle voice, an anchor in a storm. </em>“That's it. Get that junk out of there.”</p><p>Trapped in the experience, a putrid taste coated his tongue as he coughed so hard he swore his lungs were ejecting through his mouth. Something was indeed coming up in bits and pieces, the texture rubbery and foul.</p><p>
  <em>That was a flavor that one never forgets, burned in the memory as vivid as the back of your hand. Heh, however I find the latter, as dull as it is, far more appealing. Why am I dreaming about this now?</em>
</p><p>The fit abated, leaving him shaking from the effort. His throat burned, his chest felt like someone had clamped him in a vice and was still turning the screws straight into his rib cage. He couldn't take a deep breath even when he tried. A wheezy rattle accompanied his feeble efforts. Ayako eased him back down onto his damp pillow and pulled the covers up. On the nightstand she set a cloth, the one he belatedly realized she'd been holding in front of his mouth, now speckled in greenish-yellow globs of something. “At least that color isn't as alarming as before. But those coughing fits are really wiping you out, huh Aki.” She rinsed out a towel in a bowl and laid it over his forehead.</p><p>Relief. Only then did he realize sweat caked his whole body beneath the covers. He was racked with a fever as his thoughts churned slowly.</p><p>
  <em>This really happened. I remember … well … sort of remember it. How trustworthy are memories in the wash of feverish delirium? Hadn't Ayako told me afterward my temperature had edged close to the danger zone? Combine that with not breathing right and they were seriously worried I wasn't going to come out of this. The only thing that had saved me was I'd otherwise been in good health. </em>
</p><p>A series of rapid thumps approached. Spriggy black pigtails popped over the edge of the bed. Two pudgy hands lifted a large glass of water. “Got it, Momma. Carried it all the way from the sink all by myself. And … and I got the door, too.” Muku's now empty hand pressed a divot into the comforter, her eyes shining in the dim lights as she peered at him and waved.</p><p>“Thank you, sweetie. What a good helper you are. Now I can give Daddy his medicine so he can get better.” Ayako messed with something on the nightstand out of his line of sight. The weight of the blanket was enough to hold him captive. Hell, he even lacked the strength to move his head as she asked, “So, we have a visitor?”</p><p>“Mmm hmm.” Muku pointed out toward the hallway.</p><p>“Ayako, where are you?”</p><p>“Oh, hi Funetaro. We're in the bedroom. Come on in.” She reached beneath Akihito's head and lifted it. “I know this is bitter, but swallow it quick, ok? You really need this.”</p><p>
  <em>I'd been so confused, at the time I honestly had no idea what was going on. The thoughts spiraling away into utter nonsense. In hindsight it was much more obvious … but lying there stewing in my own stupidity? Not so much.</em>
</p><p><em>Need what? Why is she treating me like a child? Why am I so damn weak?</em> A moment later she popped a large pill into his mouth, he nearly gagged as the vile flavor registered. Honestly, an old sock would taste better. She held the glass of water as he gulped it down, hating how much he shivered beneath the covers enough his teeth chattered.</p><p>Sick in bed. The last thing he wanted. He'd always detested being ill.</p><p>Funetaro padded through the open door and forced a smile on his face. “So, they didn't keep him in the hospital after all?”</p><p>Setting the glass aside, Ayako fixed the damp cloth on his forehead. “There was a debate for a while. They got things started through an IV, once he responded well they figured he would recover quicker in the comfort of home. Not that it's going to be particularly swift anyway. When he's well enough,” she fixed the bed-ridden Akihito with a withering glare he couldn't even respond to, “we're going to have a long talk about what is defined as a simple cold and when it crosses the line into a raging case of pneumonia. You're seriously lucky it's bacterial and the antibiotic is working, honey. The only thing saving you from getting that lecture now is I doubt you'll remember much of it.”</p><p>
  <em>Now I remember this fully. Not sure the words are all correct … but yes, this part was a reality. How many days had I been feeling off? Didn't matter, I'd ignored the growing pressure in my chest, the dizzy spells, the plaguing fatigue. I'd been working on a case, can't even recall which one, but it was shortly after getting promoted to detective. I didn't have time to be sick. So … I just pushed through … until I couldn't. Mind over matter, that only works to a fixed point and then all bets are off. </em>
</p><p><em>I'm sorry. </em>He tried to say it. The efforts exploded in his chest. Ayako tilted him forward, holding the cloth again as he practically hacked up a lung into it. He couldn't see anything but bursts of light in the darkness as his eyes shut from the force of the fit tearing his chest apart one hacking cough at a time.</p><p>“Honey, you know you shouldn't try to talk at the moment.”</p><p>“His cough seriously sounds worse.”</p><p>“They said it would get that way before he gets better. That's because all the junk in his lungs is finally breaking up.” She settled him back down again, just a gasping husk. “Didn't get much sleep last night. But something else broke, his fever. It's come down quite a bit. I can't thank you enough, Funetaro, for calling me and driving him from work the other day. You know how he can be about hiding things.”</p><p>Funetaro came to the edge of the bed and crossed his arms. A dark shadow lingering over him. “I knew something was wrong. The whole office did. But he kept saying it was just a cold as he dismissed suggestions he go home and stay in bed. I decided he was sicker than he was admitting when I returned to his desk with some coffee to find his head resting on his arms and it took a massive effort to wake him back up. Glad you took him to the doctor right away even though the fool was still arguing about it.”</p><p>Ayako smiled and rubbed his cheek, her fingers cool to the touch. <em>How high is my fever? </em>He moaned, stirring beneath the covers.</p><p>“Our stubborn Aki.”</p><p>“Momma? Is Daddy in trouble?”</p><p>Ayako tugged gently on one of Muku's pigtails, fixing it. “Well, your brilliant father <b>did</b> do something very foolish. Remember when I told you it's important to let us know when you're not feeling well so we can help you get better?”</p><p>Muku nodded.</p><p>“Your Daddy decided that rule didn't apply to him and now he's paying the price. There are serious consequences for ignoring warning signs. But don't you worry, he'll be okay after he takes lots of naps.”</p><p>Funetaro failed to conceal a chuckle behind his hand.</p><p>
  <em>Amazing how something as tiny as bacteria can reduce a full grown body to the state of toddlerhood. For days I couldn't get out bed without Ayako's help. But my beloved wife had been right. I was paying for my mistake … for a lesson I never really did learn.</em>
</p><p>The covers shifted at the foot of the bed, the mattress vibrated as Muku crawled her way toward him.</p><p>Ayako hovered a protective hand over his chest, alarm in her eyes that she somehow concealed from her tone. “Muku sweetie, remember what Mommy told you. Daddy is very sick right now and you can't climb on him, ok?”</p><p>“Momma, can I lay next to him? Daddy's home. I wanna take my nap with Daddy today.”</p><p>“Of course. Just don't put any pressure on his chest.”</p><p>Against his shoulder he felt the toddler work her fingers around his upper arm, hugging it close to her. “Hugs make everything better. Sweet dreams, Daddy.” Within moments Muku was snoring softly, dropping off to sleep like only a toddler can.</p><p>God, it took so much effort, but he felt a slight tug on the corner of his mouth.</p><p>Funetaro leaned forward. “Is that a smile?”</p><p>“I think so. Someone alert the medical community. We just found the best medicine in the world. Looks like he needs a good dose of Muku hugs and he'll be right as rain in no time.” Ayako brushed his hair out of the way. “Aki, honey, just close your eyes. The more you rest, the sooner you'll get better.”</p><p>He blinked slowly, trying to resist the relenting pull of exhaustion. But this cold … this pneumonia was kicking his ass.</p><p>Funetaro commanded his gaze by stepping into it, unable to move without a herculean effort, Akihito stared up at him wheezing each shallow breath. “Hope you feel better soon.” His eyes quivered, his voice barely above a whisper, “And don't ever scare me like that again.”</p><p>
  <em>Fear. That … that twinge had been real. Those words … yes, I had pondered them several times over the years.</em>
</p><p>In an instant that was gone, replaced by an easy smile. “Alright. I just stopped by to see what they'd concluded.” Funetaro waved from the doorway. “I'm gonna head into the office and let the chief know he's on the mend, but it'll be a while before he'll be up to work. Keep me posted, ok?”</p><p>“I will.” She shook her head as she stared into Akihito's weary eyes. “If you'd just slowed down and taken a day or two to rest this wouldn't have gotten so bad. You really have to take care of yourself. Why are you so stubborn? Why didn't you tell me?”</p><p>
  <em>Why this … ? Why now … ?</em>
</p><p>…</p><p>Everything felt heavy as hell. Narihisago wanted to open his eyes but it took too much damn effort. This place, wherever it was, felt familiar. Something not altogether uncomfortable beneath him. He could tell he was lying on his back, but that was as far at deducing as his brain decided it was ready for. Sore, he didn't even have to move to know that everything hurt—bone damn deep.</p><p>He drifted for a while trying to recall what in the hell he'd been up to. Wait … what was the odd sensation? Like air flowing against his face … no, only part of his face. The edges crept into his awareness, something hard held into place against the bridge of his nose. Not just that, two other strange sensations struck him. Something wrapped around his left arm, and something over him … a blanket?</p><p>
  <em>What the hell is going on? </em>
</p><p>Voices seemed so damn far away. Two of them. “Shouldn't he be in the medical unit?”</p><p>“It's a pain in the neck to treat a cuffed patient. Much easier down here where I can ignore that protocol. Besides, at the moment it's a bit ridiculous. If he tries to do too much of anything he's going to black out anyway. So there is no risk.”</p><p>
  <em>Medical unit? Blacking out? Are they talking about me? What happened? I have to wake up … all the way up. </em>
</p><p>It took everything he had but the light finally poured through two narrow cracks. Everything remained disturbingly out of focus. The edges of a blanket rubbed against his chest, a thick one providing warmth. The more he climbed to consciousness, the more the ache welled. What was on his face, around his arm? He tried to turn his head, it lit a fire in his muscles that only triggered more to move. It was a miserable cascade of pain. Had he been hit by a truck? Lying still would prove wiser, if he could manage it. Now the memory began to make sense. This complete relentless grip of exhaustion felt disturbingly similar to his impromptu bout of pneumonia.</p><p>A blurred face came closer. “That was quicker than expected. Now, listen to me. Take it easy. I need you conscious for a bit to check a few things.” He knew that voice. Araya, one of the doctors in the medical unit. But he wasn't in the medical unit, right? That got mentioned. Uncuffed? Uncuffed? There were only a few places where that could happen.</p><p>Was he in his cell?</p><p>Araya disrupted his staggering thoughts. “You probably feel like death warmed over.”</p><p>Against sense, Narihisago croaked, “Close … not … quite … ”</p><p>The blurred figure shifted back suddenly. “You can actually coordinate speech this soon? Wow, I'm genuinely stunned.” That wasn't sarcasm.</p><p>It took so much effort to breathe. He knew that sensation from a time before, … the time in the dream … the memory. He shut his eyes and concentrated on gathering enough air. “ … tired … ”</p><p>“I would imagine you are. Feel like you've run a marathon?”</p><p>He quirked a brow, or thought he did. “ … yes … ”</p><p>A low laugh. “Well, a marathon without training for it, anyway. Yeah, not surprising. There's not much I can do about that for the moment. But that ache will fade as things catch back up.”</p><p>Concentrating on getting a deeper breath he realized that the strange sensation was an oxygen mask. And likely that odd pressure in his arm was an IV.</p><p>
  <em>Damn it! What the fuck happened now?</em>
</p><p>Currently his mind was having trouble sorting out the doctor's words, let alone remembering what had knocked him on his ass.</p><p>“Hey, easy. Don't shoot the heart rate up again. You've stabilized for the most part, but you're pretty weak. It won't take much to push you back into the danger zone. Stay calm, there's nothing to be alarmed about.”</p><p>“ … why … ?”</p><p>“Just relax.” Araya leaned closer. “This might be annoying, but I need to check a few reflexes.” A bit of pressure pried his eyelid all the way open and a bright light flooded in.</p><p>Narihisago wanted to scream at the irritation, but all he could find the breath for was a thin whine. He tried to shift his head away and that only brought a wave of disorientation. The shift was enough to trigger another annoyance. A decidedly sour scent assaulted him … like … like … an unwashed body? No. That's precisely what that stink was. Stale sweat.</p><p><em>Gah!</em> He wasn't sure which was worse the blinding light forced into his eyes or the gut churning scent.</p><p>“Hmmm, pupillary response is really sluggish.”</p><p>He forced himself to lie still and breathe as steadily as possible. Of course that was easier said than done with the doctor poking at various points eliciting responses. He wanted to punch him but he didn't have enough strength to pull that off, not to mention hitting a target through blurry vision was … unlikely, to put it mildly.</p><p>Araya muttered, “Then again, that sluggishness matches everything else at the moment. But there is a response, so that is encouraging. I have to say that at least it's all in the range I expected. You're through the life-threatening part of this. Now it's the grind until we can get you back on your feet. You're not getting up for a while.”</p><p>Narihisago's eyes opened a bit wider. He couldn't stay in bed for everything, there were some rather human needs. With a whimper he pointed toward where the toilet in his cell would have been located from this orientation.</p><p>Araya laughed and patted his shoulder. “Oh, I already thought about that, don't worry. That's why you've been cathed.”</p><p><em>Cathed?</em> He shifted his leg and it tugged against a tube taped to his skin beneath his clean jumpsuit. They had at least changed his clothing out, though he desperately needed a shower for some reason. <em>Great, so I don't have to get up, but still catheters are a bit of a pain if you move wrong. It also means someone has the unpleasant duty of emptying out the catch bag. Argh.</em></p><p>Narihisago sighed swallowing the embarrassment. Still, it lingered on his mind. Why was he like this? What had happened? Images wandered back, he latched onto them one at a time. A race … not a race, running through a jungle pursued by savage animals, an id well. There had been a living victim. A woman. Her name came to him on syllable at a time, his eyes widened as he clawed at the thermal blanket. “ … Yu … Yume Oishi … ? The … killer … ?”</p><p>“Narihisago.” The hand encircled his left arm. “For the last time, I told you, you need to keep calm right now. You'll burn out what little adrenaline you have gained. Now you forced my hand. Going with my original plan to make damn sure, you get the rest you require.”</p><p>He blinked slowly, the blurry doctor fussing with something near his arm. A cool sensation traveled through his vein.</p><p>“I'll just up things enough to keep you sedated for a bit.”</p><p><em>Sedated? Sedated!</em> He tried to shift his arm, to pull away. But of course his efforts abysmally failed. It was too late anyway.</p><p>“Easy now. Narihisago, this isn't the first time that notion earned me the strange reaction. You struggle with insomnia, so I would think that would be a welcoming relief.”</p><p>“ … no … ” he scrambled against the pull of the sedative, swifter against his depleted reserves, “ … worse … ” He wasn't sure the word even made it out. No one understood. They never had, they'd never tried. He attempted to gesture toward his head but his eyes were already closing, dragging him down in a current he could never hope to resist. He could never quite explain it, not since it had first begun … what happened when he closed his eyes—outside of the Mizuhanome's cockpit.</p><p>Thanks to the pull of the drugs it left him wide open, defenseless and cringing in the shadows.</p><p>Restful? It wasn't always!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Funetaro Momoki hung up his phone and immediately rubbed his eyes. The day, which had started with a 2:30am phone summons, had been extremely daunting. He was beyond tired, yet there was no way he could fall asleep now.</p><p>A hand massaged his shoulder. Sarina Togo leaned over into his line of sight, worry in her eyes. “Everything alright at work?”</p><p>“How did you know, Sarina?” Here in his home there was no need to adhere to formalities. Here their relationship wasn't strictly business with all its complex protocols. His hand brushed hers. But of course she knew, he hadn't kept his responses to Soma cryptic. Besides that, work was about all he had for a life. “More or less.”</p><p>Coming around to the opposite side of the table, she sat down. Their dinner spread out between them, barely touched. “Narihisago?”</p><p>He flinched, the guilt commanding his downward gaze. It took everything he had to force out the monotone reply, “He'll be ok … eventually. As ok as he ever is these days.” He stared at the plate filled from the sukiyaki pot. “I'm sorry … but I've kind of lost my appetite. What the hell am I doing with all this … when the guy who provided the path to the critical breakthrough is lying in a drugged haze confined to a tiny cell? I owe him everything. Especially after my call to keep him in the dive when I knew damn well we were pushing things. What does he get despite his contribution? He'll never be released from prison for the rest of his life. This isn't fair.”</p><p>“Your call saved an innocent woman's life today, Funetaro. How is that a bad thing?”</p><p>“He wound up in critical condition in a situation where he has no choice.”</p><p>“You told me you asked him to come on board. A year ago he agreed to this project. It's not like he was forced.” Sarina pushed her plate toward the center of the table, leaning on her elbows. “You have to face facts, he didn't have any other options. The guy <em>is</em> criminally insane. I know it's not his fault. Undeniable now that we have proof. But that evidence doesn't change the truth that he just isn't stable.” She gripped her upper arm, locking eyes with Funetaro. “I saw how unhinged he is—first hand. You had already been arrested when I met with him in interrogation. Earlier in the day the guards had had to stop him from trying to bash his own skull in. Said that he'd been ranting about Hondomachi diving into his well. In the meeting with me he started out calm enough, but seriously, in an instant he went from deadpan looking at the evidence for your arrest to flipping the table in a rage. Even when the guards had him pinned to the floor he was growling at me a step away from foaming at the mouth. He isn't in control of himself.”</p><p>He nodded, resting his forehead in his hand. “I know. That's been the case for three damn years. And now we know why.” Getting up he paced the room.</p><p>“You're taking this really personal, Funetaro. I know his compatibility with the Mizuhanome is invaluable … but this is clearly about more than just temporarily losing access. We have Hondomachi, who is certainly skilled as well. It's not like we can't give him a break if he needs it.”</p><p>Funetaro paused and turned, his hand brushed and tipped a stack of papers onto the floor. “Great, another mess to clean up is all I need.” Rolling his eyes, he knelt down to pick them up. She joined him in the process, gathering the dusty papers he'd been neglecting for what seemed like years. In the midst of it, his eyes caught the photo of a woman dressed in white with a sparkling tiara holding a bouquet of flowers while grinning at the camera. The photo paralyzed him.</p><p>Sarina blinked. “Wait … is that … ? Why do you have a photo of Narihisago's wife?”</p><p>His eyes clenched tight. Gripping the edge of the photo he extracted it from of the stack. The arm wrapped around Ayako's shoulder belonged to Akihito, dressed in a pale gray suit he was smiling his fool head off. And right behind him … a younger Funetaro in a matching suit. The memories surged back in a maelstrom of joy and anguish.</p><p>He could barely get the words out, “Ayako … was my younger sister.”</p><p>“Oh my God! That means,” she drew in a sharp breath, “Narihisago was your brother-in-law!”</p><p>He shook his head, wiping the tear away.“Akihito still <em>is</em>. But neither of us will bring it up now for the sake of my honor.”</p><p>Tentatively she uttered the name, “Akihito … I've never heard you say his given name on its own. What was he like before … before … ”</p><p>“Before my niece was slaughtered and everything that followed?” Funetaro set the photo on the table and knelt down, his knees already threatening to give out under the barrage of emotion. Sarina came closer and sat beside him, her hand on his as he collected himself trying to find how to even start something he hadn't shared—ever. “Nothing like he is now. Back then he was a talkative nut, always puzzling something out. If he wasn't on a case, his nose was buried in a mystery trying to tease out the answer before the author dropped the revelation. I remember even on coffee and lunch breaks he'd have a book in his hand, muttering about the clues Pendergast was picking up.”</p><p>“Pendergast?”</p><p>“It was a mystery thriller series he got a kick out of, said it was like Sherlock on steroids. You should have seen him the moment he solved 'The Crimson Shores'. We were in the break room when he slammed his hand on the page and shouted the solution. On the next page was the reveal. Matsuoka wasn't pleased with the coffee he'd spilled all over himself at the initial outburst.”</p><p>“No wonder they don't get along.”</p><p>“That's just one incident of many. Trust me, Matsuoka was far more upset when Akihito embarrassed the first division by publicly arguing with the mayor.”</p><p>Sarina's eyes widened.</p><p>He laughed. “Before you ask, that didn't end well. We got taken off the case. What really pissed Matsuoka off was weeks later when he and his partner solved that case because of the anonymous tip scribbled on a piece of paper left on his desk. The handwriting turned out to be Akihito's … which Matsuoka didn't realize until well afterwards. I'd tried to talk my partner out of it, but he could be stubborn as hell. I only knew he'd done it because I saw him covertly drop the envelope on Matsuoka's desk. No one else had.”</p><p>Funetaro rolled his eyes. “No one ever would have known … except Matsuoka chose to be a dick about it. He stormed into the break room weeks later having glimpsed some writing on our desks and shoved Akihito back so hard his chair leaned against the wall. I remember the flash of shock in his eyes as the chopsticks hung suspended still in mid bite of his lunch. Matsuoka's tore the book he'd reading from his hand and threw it across the room. But that momentary flash was all Matsuoka got out of him. In an instant Akihito adopted that side-eyed expression I had seen him pull on Muku every time she'd thrown a tantrum to get something she wanted. The same patient look he'd hold until she calmed down. I haven't seen that expression in years now … but to see him use that on a grown man? Matsuoka accused him of stealing his thunder, ignoring seniority, and bucking protocol. Still held against the wall by hands wrinkling his suit, Akihito kept that gaze. I'll never forget his reply.”</p><p>Sarina cocked her head as if to make certain she caught every syllable.</p><p>“ 'We're on the same side, aren't we? The perpetrator's been arrested. Is anything more important than that?' Of course, that didn't serve to calm Matsuoka down. It only added fuel to fire. For all the cases he closed, Akihito never cared much for the recognition. It was always about finding the truth in the lies. Nothing could change that. His drive … his reason for being in that department was so different from mine.”</p><p>Funetaro glanced up at a portrait on the wall. A formal portrait of his father in the police commissioner uniform dripping with medals of honor. “He didn't have a legacy to live up to, expectations of him that he could never hope to achieve. He wasn't the eldest son … of a legend.” His hand tightened into a fist. “I was so jealous of Akihito when I'd first met him. The only child of an ordinary couple out in outskirts of Fukui. He'd grown up without any grand path for him to follow. They'd simply indulged his interests, letting him forge his own life with a freedom I only wish I'd been granted. He'd worked hard to get to Tokyo. By the time he strode onto the academy grounds he knew what he wanted to do with an unbreakable confidence … and I … well, I saw for the first time a means to fulfill my father's plan for me. I forged a partnership with a quirky bookworm and never looked back. The only guy in our class to nearly fail the combat training.”</p><p>“I find that hard to believe.” She narrowed her eyes. “I mean with what we've seen.”</p><p>“He's different now. Trust me, in the academy he struggled with the physical courses to the point the other students outright laughed. It didn't really bother him. Because to be a detective that wasn't so much of a problem, fortunately the advisers weighed that detail in with his performance. Most of what we did was mental. We'd visit a scene, collect the clues, and then sit around our desks spit balling ideas until something made sense. When it came to the mental acrobatics required for the job … no one was like Akihito. He was the only guy I knew who could unravel the mind of a serial killed one day, and spend the next afternoon contentedly lying in a field with a piece of grass between his teeth and patiently listen to little Muku reclining on his chest insisting that every cloud was a bunny.”</p><p>Sarina's eyes took in the photo, creases at the ends of her eyelids. It pained Funetaro to even think about that day. Akihito sprawled in the waving grasses, his eyes watching the clouds scud by without a care in the world. Less than twenty-four hours before that he'd been solely responsible for the breakthrough that tracked down a serial wife beater, the male equivalent of a black widow. He'd been capable of compartmentalizing it all … once upon a time.</p><p>“Anyway, Akihito had joined the force because he believed in justice. At his core he was a gentle soul who detested seeing innocent people get hurt. That drive propelled him up through the ranks to the task he was best at, solving murders. Somehow he was dedicated to his job as a homicide detective while still being a remarkable father to Muku. Though, he <em>never</em> saw it that way. Constantly in doubt, the conversations we'd have while working … it was as though it was the singular piece of his life he felt out of his depth. Though, why he'd ask me for advice there, I never knew. I was the one who crashed in on his family, living vicariously through them. I hadn't dared to try and balance marriage and the career track that had been forced on me. That was him. Striving for balance.”</p><p>He picked up the photo. “He dearly loved Ayako. The two were the perfect couple. Finishing each others sentences, making each others favorite dishes, knowing just when the other needed a moment to take a breather. I'll never forget when Muku was a fussy baby who wouldn't sleep unless she was nestled against a heartbeat, how many times I called him off shift to ask a question only to find him juggling the phone while she slept cradled in his other arm so Ayako could get a nap too. I could always tell because he'd be whispering, trying not wake either of them. He somehow figured it out, even if he doesn't remember it that way.” That was the true tragedy, how much Akihito believed he had failed them both.</p><p>“On the job I counted myself lucky we were partners, we had an amazing closure rate on some of the trickiest cases. Outstanding contributions were awarded more than once when our prediction got SWAT there in time to prevent another victim. Not that Akihito was perfect, oh no, he could be a pain in the ass sometimes. Communication wasn't his strong point, he often kept his observations to himself unless I asked the right question. I don't think he did it on purpose, he just didn't seem to realize what he had said and what remained in his thoughts. Once he was onto something, he was a bit impulsive, dashing off at a breakneck pace to confirm his suspicion. Or he'd be so caught up in the thought process he would zone out and forget about everything else; sleeping, eating. If I didn't shove something into his hand and remind him he was human, he would just keep going until he passed out. That made lengthy cases with him infuriating.</p><p>“As absent minded as he could be, Akihito was truly brilliant, always had been—right from our academy days. He once lectured the teacher on his own murder scenario, laid out another line of logic that turned out to hold more water than the original solution, which he pointed out had a critical flaw resulting in the wrong theoretical man being accused.”</p><p>“Lectured the teacher? But didn't the teacher set up the scenario?”</p><p>Funetaro nodded. “I watched him do it and I still can't figure out what tipped him off. It was like watching Sherlock Holmes in real life, only a younger more gregarious version. It had something to do with a fishbowl and light refraction. I'll have to ask him next time and see if he still remembers. That was the deal with him, he could spot the most obscure damn clue. When he and Matsuoka were on the same scene things could get downright fiery.”</p><p>Sarina shook her head. “Matsuoka gets worked up too easily, if you ask me.”</p><p>“He does, but it's easy to see why. In general he worked by the procedural manual. The one Akihito practically tossed in the trash can and lit on fire. Shit, if things hadn't turned the way they did … ” He bowed his head. “But … ” his breath caught in his throat. “ … poor Muku. Her murder started the dreadful cascade.”</p><p>Hugging him close she let Funetaro lean on her until he sat back, wiping his eyes in a vain attempt to hide his silent tears. “I'm sorry, Sarina. I've ruined our dinner.”</p><p>She held his hand, meeting his eyes. “Don't apologize. I get it now. I never understood the dedication you had to him. I never quite grasped what had happened. To be honest, I couldn't imagine anything different from the melancholic inmate I've become accustomed to hearing from the cockpit.”</p><p>He swallowed, shuddering. “That isn't the half of it. Do you really want to know?” When she nodded, he took a deep breath, steeling himself. “Alright … I've never told anyone this. So I apologize if I ramble. Three years ago, the day after he had been forced to identify Muku's body in the morgue the first division chief Tominaga cleared him to continue working the Challenger case since by some miracle he passed a psych eval. That wasn't a popular decision. But we'd both been on the Challenger case since the beginning, and he somehow held it together, cool and collected, driven to remain on the trail of his daughter's murderer. He wanted justice … ”</p>
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<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The Year 2016</em>
</p><p>Leaning back in my desk chair, I stretched. “And we're back to square one … again.” I stared across the untidy pile of files scattered, forming a mountain, not just on my desk, but the ridge line formed along the fault between mine and Detective Akihito Narihisago's.</p><p>My partner leaned on his elbow, thumb against his chin as he stared out into space.</p><p>“Hey, Narihisago, there has to be something with the martial artist and that pro-wrestler. Maybe a link to a gym or a fight club?”</p><p>Slowly, he shook his head, his gaze distant not even in the same room. “No … that's not it. It doesn't add up. What kind of a man would beat up women and children? That's the key to this. And why <b>after</b> taking on such a challenge as the pros?”</p><p>“It defies logic.” I shifted the files, careful not to open Muku's. I couldn't stare at those photos again. It didn't escape my notice I wasn't alone in avoiding that. Earlier Narihisago had strategically used another file to move hers aside. Not surprising. After IDing her body down in the morgue he already knew the findings—intimately.</p><p>“Logic by <em>our</em> standards. That's the mistake. Assuming he's working on the same logic we are.” The only sign he was upset was the flexing of his hand. How could he be so damned collected? “Someone who would do that to a defenseless victim is not functioning on a normal rationale.”</p><p>A shiver went down my spine. That defenseless victim he was talking about was his daughter.</p><p>Both our phones buzzed with a message. I pulled it out of my pocket and groaned when I read it. “Great. Chief's just scheduled a meeting. He wants us to go over everything we know in ten minutes.”</p><p>Narihisago jerked out of his pondering trance. His jaw dropping as he pulled his phone out and stared. He ran a hand through his spiky hair. “Shit! Not today, I really need to get home.”</p><p>“Ayako?”</p><p>He frowned and nodded stiffly. “She … she hasn't been taking this well. It's why I've been stepping out so often, to call and check on her these last few days.”</p><p>I heaved a sigh. “I guessed as much.”</p><p>“I promised her we'd have dinner together tonight.” Glancing at the time on his phone he lowered his head. “That's not gonna happen now. How can I make that up to her? I'll have to think of something. But I better give her a call while I've got a chance.” Swiftly he hit the entry and held the phone up to his ear. When Ayako answered, I heard her weary voice carrying out in the midst of the silent office, tinny over the speaker. “Hey Ayako, I'm sorry, did I wake you again?”</p><p>“<em>No … I was just … you don't need to worry, I'm ok, Aki.”</em></p><p>He took a quiet deep breath. With a wide smile he spoke cheerily into the phone. “Glad to hear that. So, you're having a good day?”</p><p>There was a pause, then, <em>“A bit better. I got out of bed.”</em></p><p>He turned to the window behind his desk and peered out the blinds at downtown, shafts of afternoon light pierced through the gloom of the old office. “The sun is out today. Did you sit on the balcony, get some fresh air?”</p><p>“<em>For a bit. There was a bird singing. But it flew away.”</em></p><p>I pointed at the time on my phone. Narihisago held up a hand before tugging on his tie. “Say, uhh, I'm calling right now because the chief just scheduled an emergency meeting. You know what that means, I need to shut my phone off for a while, protocol and all that. I didn't want you to worry when you couldn't reach me. Especially since I'm gonna be late tonight. I'm real sorry, I know I said I'd be home on time … but … I'll bring something special when I'm done, alright?”</p><p>“<em>I understand.</em> <em>You <b>have</b> to do your job, Aki. Find him.”</em></p><p>He closed his eyes, his hand tensed on the grip on his phone. “I promise I will, Ayako. You try and relax. I'll be home as soon as I can.”</p><p>“<em>I think … I'll take a long bath.”</em></p><p>“You do that, love. I can smell your cherry blossom conditioner already. I gotta run, or the chief'll be mad. You know how he hates it when I'm late.” Punctuality, another constant issue for my spacey partner. “See you tonight. Remember, Ayako, I love you with all my heart.”</p><p>“<em>I love you too, Akihito.”</em></p><p>He hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment before turning off the volume. “That's a relief. She sounded a bit better. The other night was rough. She really lost it for moment. Had quite the mess to clean up.”</p><p>We walked down the hallway toward the meeting room. I tucked my silenced phone in my pocket. “I know, she called me.”</p><p>“I heard while I was cleaning up the shattered dishes. I don't even know what I said before she cleared the table onto the floor. She actually hit me, pounded on my chest repeatedly … that's never happened before. I didn't know what to say as she stormed off to the bedroom. But when I heard her on the phone I assumed it was you. Thanks, brother.”</p><p>“Hey, what are brothers for?”</p><p>
  <span>He rubbed the back of his neck. “Well one of these years maybe I can return the favor. You know, if you ever find </span>
  <em>the one</em>
  <span>. In the meantime, at least I can count on you to be there when I clearly have no clue what I'm doing wrong.”</span>
</p><p>I offered a somber smile. Such a troubling conversation. She'd been difficult to understand at first between the sobs. I'd just let her talk, get it all out wondering what the hell was going on. The truth of it wasn't something I could even tell him. She couldn't understand how he was able to keep going, how he was holding it all together and able to work while she fell apart. Wasn't he hurt by Muku's murder? Why hadn't it shattered him like it had her? I knew, I saw it for what it was. He was doing what he needed to while trying to be there for Ayako, when she felt he should be just as much a wreck as she was. But this balance … it was impossible to achieve. To keep going, he was pushing off his grief so it wouldn't slow him down. “It wasn't anything you said. Ayako reached a breaking point is all.”</p><p>“It's been too quiet at home … and … last night I walked into Muku's room to tuck her in.” His eyes clamped shut. “I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt when I realized my mistake … and I'd never do that for her again.” There it was, the crack in his armor. The evidence of my suspicion, he wasn't as surefooted as he had been trying to make everyone believe.</p><p>Just outside the meeting room door, Narihisago sighed with his hand on the knob. “Let's get this waste of time over with.”</p><p>The meeting lasted hours. Narihisago and I talked ourselves hoarse along with other detectives assigned to the case laying out every detail collected no matter how minute. When not speaking, Narihisago's leather shoe squeaked a steady cadence beneath the table. Until at long last, clear there wasn't anything more to be gained from the exhausted crew, the chief decided to call it a day.</p><p>Narihisago wasted no time, dashing down towards the parking ramp with his car keys in his hands. I laughed as his tie flapped over his shoulder while he shouted, “If I hurry I can hit the bakery before it closes!” Ayako always did have a sweet tooth.</p><p>I had been home for a while, at least an hour, when I sat down for the first time and remembered I'd silenced my phone. There was a message. Without even looking to see who it was I played it.</p><p>“<em>Funetaro … I know you can't answer right now.” </em><span>Ayako's mostly flat voice choked a bit at the end of each phrase.</span><em> “You're working … with Aki. I … need you to do that. But … I wanted you to know … it's better this way. Remind Aki … I love him.”</em></p><p>My heart threatened to pound out of my chest. No—tell me that wasn't what it sounded like.</p><p>I tried her phone, nothing. I frantically dialed Akihito's phone. It continued to ring until it hit voicemail, so it wasn't off. I rang again. No answer.</p><p>This couldn't be happening. Not now! I raced out to my car, redialing his number at every damn stoplight hoping like hell he'd pick up the damn phone. My hands pounded the steering wheel as I chanted, “You're overreacting. This is nothing. His phone must've fallen out of his pocket when he was running to the car … that's all. That has to be it.”</p><p>I squealed the tires pulling into the parking space beside his car. He was home. Why wasn't he answering his phone? Racing up the steps I found the door locked and rammed my key in turning it hastily. Bursting through the door into the silent apartment I shouted, “Akihito! Ayako!”</p><p>There on the floor in the hallway I saw an overturned pastry box. Not even bothering to take my shoes off I tore around the corner into their bedroom and froze.</p><p>Nothing prepared me for the sight.</p><p>In the bathroom attached to their room … Ayako's body sunk nose deep in a tub filled with what looked to be more blood than water. There were no signs of a struggle. Not a drop on the floor. The razor blade lay on the edge of the tub in a pool of dried blood. In the doorway Akihito had collapsed to the floor, halfway kneeling, vacant eyes staring at nothing. All he did was breathe, a strangled, rattle of a breath in and out. His hands splayed at his sides. They were clean. He hadn't touched her. Hadn't gotten any farther than the door before the shock claimed him.</p><p>Ayako … my chest tightened. Ayako … was … I couldn't even think it. As if I didn't complete the thought it couldn't be true.</p><p>Darting in front of Akihito I shook him. He didn't respond. His head just lolled about, the trance unbroken. “Come on, snap out of it!” Shaking him vigorously produced no more of a result.</p><p>Desperate, and hardly thinking, I drew my hand back and slapped him hard across the face. Akihito blinked for the first time since I entered the room and recoiled backward, colliding with the wall. His eyes drifted for a moment before settling on the tub. They widened, more than I thought them capable. He threw his head back and released the most agonized scream I had ever heard until I swore his lungs collapsed. Crumpling completely on the floor, he sobbed into his hands attempting to say her name and only managing a few intelligible sounds.</p><p>I didn't have to ask. I knew he had lost it before he'd called anyone. Placing a hand on his shoulder, I made the call for him. That one … and one other while we waited for the first response to arrive. “Chief?”</p><p>“<em>Detective Momoki? What is it?”</em></p><p>My hand still gripped Akihito's shoulder. There was no way the phone wouldn't pick up his stricken cries in the background. “Sir … it's Narihisago.”</p><p>“<em>What hap—is that him?”</em></p><p>“Yes, it's him … Ayako, his wife … she … in their apartment … he found her … ” I couldn't say it. I couldn't force it out. I couldn't even look over my shoulder as I blocked the view from him.</p><p>“<em>I'll be right there.” </em><span>The line went dead.</span></p><p>I bent over Akihito. “Hey, come on. Let's get you out of the doorway.”</p><p>He looked up with bloodshot eyes. Jacket sleeves soaked through with tears that continued to flow unchecked. I saw the white case of his phone peek out of the pocket where he kept it. He hadn't lost it … he'd been rendered incapable of answering. The moment I tried to help him to his feet my efforts to block the sight were abolished. He thrashed forward, clawing and tripping toward the tub. “Ayako! No! I'm sorry! Don't leave me! Ayako!”</p><p>I struggled to hold him back as he tried to drag both of us across the floor. “Stop! Please, there's nothing you can do for her now. Akihito, get a grip on yourself!” I wanted to join his hysteria, but one of us had to keep it together. And the sucker punch had nailed him far harder.</p><p>Grabbing him by the shoulders I hauled him up from the floor and pushed him back toward the wall. He clung to it, sobbing into his hands, shaking with each breath. “I should have been here! I could have stopped her … ”</p><p>“She said she was ok! You couldn't have known.”</p><p>It could have been a minute or an hour when the chief ran in. I'd lost all sense of time. But he must have been in the area for some reason. He took one look into the tub. “My God … it looks like … ”</p><p>I didn't even let him finish, Akihito shouldn't hear that word. “It was. And I have proof.” My hand left Akihito's shoulder for a moment as I pulled out my phone and brought up the message. “Sir, don't let him hear this.” I crouched back on the floor, a hand to his shoulder close to his neck mainly to track his erratic pulse.</p><p>As he listened, the chief's eyes closed. “Shit.” He handed my phone back and knelt down by the side of the tub, eyes locking on the same clue I had. The dried blood. His finger dipped into the water, head falling forward as he withdrew it “Cold. Hours ago.” He turned a worried gaze toward us. “And he hasn't even buried his daughter yet. Damn.”</p><p>Akihito stirred, bringing his arms around himself, crying silently now.</p><p>
  <span>The chief sighed, issuing a subtle gesture to the firearm still secured in the holster on Akihito's belt. “Narihisago should </span>
  <span>
    <b>not</b>
  </span>
  <span> be alone right now.”</span>
</p><p>I looked up at him and nodded. “I'll take him to my house for the night.” And one the first things I would do was covertly lock his gun in the family safe.</p><p>“I'll oversee this part, Momoki. Get him out of here. Keep a close eye on him.”</p><p>I eased Akihito onto his feet letting him lean heavily on me. I doubted he could see much of anything given the state he was in. It took everything I had to keep him from turning back toward her … to keep myself from turning back. There was nothing we could do for her.</p><p>Akihito's wife … my sister … was gone.</p><p>That night I barely slept. Every so often getting up on some vague pretext to pass the guest room door. Every time I glanced in I found Akihito as I had left him. Sitting up and loosely hugging his legs to his chest, eyes unfocused, dressed in the t-shirt and sweatpants I'd loaned him so his suit could dry. That had been the excuse to get him out of it—and my hands on his gun. An excuse he readily accepted. He hadn't said a word since I'd brought him out of his apartment.</p><p>In truth his state wasn't surprising. I was only functioning marginally better because I was sitting his suicide watch. Without that task … I would have been buried beneath the covers just as racked.</p><p>Sunrise. I lingered in the doorway waiting to see if he would even notice me. It took several minutes before his bloodshot gaze shifted my way. “You sleep at all?”</p><p>He looked down and shook his head. His eyes closed and opened slowly, too slowly. I could only imagine how sore he would be after sitting hunched like that all night.</p><p>I scrambled to think of something to say. Anything. But nothing seemed right in the awkward silence.</p><p>A phone buzzed. Far too loud in the quiet room it startled Akihito. He reached to the nightstand and answered hollowly, “Narihisago …, yeah.” There was a long pause as he listened, his eyes inching open. Then, his head dropped, eyes clenched shut. His tone a weary resignation, “Understood, Chief … I will.” Clicking his phone off he dropped it between his bare feet and braced his head in his hands.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I'm on paid leave.”</p><p>That was actually a relief. They'd skipped doing a psych eval. What was the point now? It was obvious he was a train wreck. Seeing him now I wondered how he had managed not to collapse with Muku's murder, … only that, as I had theorized with Ayako on the phone, finding her killer was perhaps a distraction that permitted him to function. I crossed the room and sat down beside him. “This … is a lot to take in. You really need some time.”</p><p>He was on the verge of tears again, burying his face in his arms. “We hadn't gotten through planning the funeral … now … Funetaro … I … ”</p><p>“Hey, it's ok. I can help you with that.” My phone buzzed with a message. I flicked it out, from the chief. I sighed. “Look, I have to go to the station for a bit, chief needs to see me for some reason. You really should get some sleep. Do you need anything?”</p><p>He slowly lifted his head and rubbed his eyes, choking on the words. “I need my wife and daughter back.”</p><p>My heart sank at the desperation in his voice. “I'm sorry, Akihito. I wish I could. I'll be back as soon as I can. Will you be alright?”</p><p>He nodded, but it seemed more of an automatic response. I hated to leave him, but at least I knew he couldn't get to his gun at the moment, not where I had locked it. While I got dressed I even messaged the chief to make sure it was essential. Of course it was.</p><p>In his office I was stunned to find myself up for a psych eval given my relationship to the victims. I hardly remember the procedure, just that when I was done I'd been cleared to stay on task and get the bastard behind this. My own thoughts haunted me, one of us needed to hold it together. Now … it had to be me.</p><p>By the time I got home to a quiet house, I wandered into the guest room. Akihito lay curled on his side as though he had simply fallen over from earlier. That sight was a relief. I knew he couldn't keep going without some form of rest. I had thought I was being quiet, but he jerked awake.</p><p>“Go back to sleep, you need it. It's just me getting home. Dinner's in a few hours.”</p><p>His eyes barely fought against gravity. Shutting before I could even finish. Exhaustion is a powerful force that overcomes even grief.</p><p>The next morning on my way to work I dropped Akihito off at his apartment at his request. Courting my greatest fear, he had noticed his gun was missing as he got dressed. I had foolishly neglected to pull it from his belt and had to fetch it from the safe. Before I drove off I called out to him through the car window, “I'll stop by after work.”</p><p>He waved me off without enthusiasm as he trudged into the building. I spent the entire day worried, my finger a hairsbreadth from calling him. The moment my shift ended, I raced out to my car and nearly ran every light on the route to his apartment. Pounding on his door, I heard my heartbeat in my ears.</p><p>After a short pause, the door opened. Akihito leaned against it, dark baggy circles under his bloodshot eyes. He'd changed his clothes into an old t-shirt and sweatpants, the tie at his waist uneven, which wasn't like him. Without a word he gestured for me to come in.</p><p>The apartment hadn't changed … and yet everything had. The clean-up team had done a remarkable job. All evidence of her death had been erased. That wasn't what felt off. The evidence of her life, and that of their daughter remained. Framed photos of them smiling hung on the wall as I followed Akihito trudging through their mocking reminders toward the living room. Muku's school books still sat under the end table. Ayako's hair tie … abandoned in the middle of the coffee table. A life on terminal pause.</p><p>Akihito flopped down onto the couch, hunched forward his eyes completely lost. I sat down beside him staring at the photos and albums he had dragged out.</p><p>“Have you eaten since breakfast?”</p><p>“Yeah.” That voice was hoarse. He pointed toward the kitchen. A few dishes stacked near the sink, so he had cooked something. Some semblance of functioning was a good sign. He picked up a stack of pictures and sifted through them. I had forgotten how much they'd loved the woods and the parks. The evidence laid bare in the photos. Though it was the majority, not all of the photos were of smiling faces. In one Akihito carried Ayako piggybacked, her face slack as she slept, likely on a hike … Wait, it <em>was </em>from a hike. Vaguely I remembered taking that photo to his chagrin. He'd said she be so angry if she saw it and I should erase it. But they looked so sweet, I just couldn't. So many of these photos had been taken by me. Birthdays, celebrations, just hanging out with my sister and niece … my brother. I'd been closer to him then my blood brothers.</p><p>At length the photos tumbled from his slack fingers. “Two … two funerals. I can't do this.”</p><p>I bent down and gathered up the photos setting them on the table before I turned back to discover him with his face buried in his hands, tears glistening between his fingers. I touched his shoulder. “We'll get through this. Maybe … maybe we combine it into one, make it a little easier on you.”</p><p>“Nothing about this will be easy.” His hands closed into fists. “They're gone … I failed to … to protect them. Who the hell am I if I couldn't even protect my family?”</p><p>He crumpled forward. I shifted and caught his falling weight with my shoulder. Every phrase I thought to utter seemed trite. Instead I held my tongue, and put my effort into holding him up as his grief tore at him once more. His shaking hand gripped my arm, digging in so deep he left nail marks.</p><p>At length he withdrew and scrubbed the tears with the back of his arm. His eyes sought refuge out the window.</p><p>“Akihito. You are going to be alright.”</p><p>He sighed and shut his eyes. “Maybe … once we find that bastard.” His hand gripped his knee enough the veins popped out. “Do me one favor, brother,” his eyes opened and he looked at me sideways, his eyebrow twitching, “keep me updated on whatever you find no matter how minute. I want to know everything.”</p><p>How could I deny him that? I nodded. “Of course. For now … ” I picked up a photo of the three of them laid out on the floor, heads together, sleeping. I had known it was only slightly posed. A second before I had pushed the button Akihito had cracked his eye open and grinned before snapping it shut again. So peaceful, so perfect. “We need to give them the memorial they deserve.”</p><p>I'm ashamed to admit I barely remember the service save for one thing. It rained the entire day which did nothing to lift Akihito's crushed spirits. I watched him stagger through it in a haze, forced to stay when I swear he longed to flee the barrage of well intentioned words that sounded hollow in the face of his tragedy.</p><p>In the days that followed with him still on leave, I called him with random questions, any reason to make sure he was alright and not betray that was my true intention. He'd always answer, thankfully. I knew that if he ever didn't, it wouldn't have mattered what I was supposed to be doing, I would have been in my car in a heartbeat. I wasn't about to let it happen again.</p><p>Three days after the funeral, when he picked up I heard odd background noises, like a strong wind gusting across the speaker. I instantly forgot the excuse I'd made up to call. “Akihito … where are you?”</p><p>His tone was level, almost normal business. <em>“Just taking care of something.”</em></p><p>The slap of car tires against the road confirmed it. He was out of his apartment. Aside from the funeral he hadn't left. So, that was progress. After a brief, fairly normal conversation I hung up the phone and turned back to my desk.</p><p>Minutes later an announcement blared over our secure frequency. <em>“SWAT has been activated to issue the warrant for Denshin Katsuyama, AKA the Challenger. Neighbors have confirmed the target is at his residence.”</em></p><p>I knocked my chair over as I remembered his words. The firm tone. “Oh shit!” Racing to my car I wondered how he could have known. How had he put the few new pieces together. I had been telling him everything, but it hadn't been much of anything groundbreaking to me. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he was just picking up groceries.</p><p>I had nearly convinced myself of that … until I pulled up to the address. Akihito's white car parked out front the wedged open security gate.</p><p>“No. Where the hell is SWAT?” How long before had I called him? I dashed up the pathway, gravel crunching beneath my feet in the silence.</p><p>A loud bang followed by a barrage of gunfire echoed from the building hastening my steps. The front door had been kicked open hard enough to force the deadbolt and latch through the frame. The click of an empty gun reached my ears as I dashed headlong into the building.</p><p>A few meters into the entryway, the Challenger lay fallen backward in a growing pool of his own blood, one shot dead center on his forehead, most of the rest buried in his chest from point blank range.</p><p>Akihito stood with his back to me, his finger pumped the trigger of his gun. “Shit!” He discarded the mag onto the floor and pulled out another one, about to ram it into his pistol.</p><p>“No!” I charged him shoulder first, catching him off balance as he turned in surprise. He fell backwards, caught twisted beneath my weight, his gun and the fully loaded magazine slid across the floor. I grabbed his right wrist and forced my weight down, pulling his arm straight out beneath his chest and pinning him in an awkward grapple to the ground. One that was exceptionally hard to break from.</p><p>He struggled and screamed at me. I'll never forget the crazed gleam in his eyes. “Let me go!”</p><p>“Damn it, Akihito! Have you lost your mind? This is murder!”</p><p>He thrashed, arching his head back and trying to break free unsuccessfully before he locked eyes with me. The light in them sent a shudder down my spine. Conviction, pure and utter. “Killing a murderer isn't murder, it's justice!”</p><p>Those words shocked me. This wasn't the man I knew. He never would have said that, he'd never even pulled his trigger before in the field. “You're not on duty! What's wrong with you?”</p><p>He gritted his teeth, kicking uselessly. “Let me go! I'm not finished making that bastard pay!”</p><p>That line … those words were what the SWAT team heard as they entered the door to find us. A great void opened in the pit of my stomach as I hung my head. I had no choice now, there was no way I could possibly help him, not after they heard that.</p><p>These words gutted me as I said them. “Akihito Narihisago … you are under arrest for the murder of Denshin Katsuyama.”</p><p>He continued to thrash in my grapple, shouting for me to let him go. If he had managed to set the mag before I'd tackled him, I feared he may have shot me. It took two SWAT agents to wrestle him into the cuffs and even afterward, one had to keep him physically pressed against the wall. He refused to give up.</p><p>The chief called as I stood back, still shaken by the sight. <em>“Momoki. What the hell is going on down there? SWAT reported Katsuyama was already dead on arrival.”</em></p><p>I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I don't know how it happened, Sir, but Narihisago beat us all here.”</p><p>“<em>Narihisago?”</em></p><p>“I assume one of the other teams found a damning piece of evidence?”</p><p>“<em>Anonymous tip directly to the station.”</em></p><p>“Well, I talked to him just before the announcement of the warrant. He didn't say where he was going, but I could hear he was driving through his Bluetooth link. I only realized the potential target once I heard the warrant announcement.”</p><p>“<em>You didn't call it in?”</em></p><p>I shook my head, though he couldn't see it. “I was hoping I'd been wrong, Sir. Or if I was right I could intercept him in time … and before you ask … I clearly didn't.”</p><p>Grinding his teeth, Akihito shouted as the SWAT officer kept his arm pressed against his chest pinning him against the wall. “Funetaro, you traitor! How can you side with that piece of trash? That bastard beat the shit out of your niece!”</p><p>His words jarred me, but not half as hard as the look in his eyes. That was not Akihito Narihisago. I knew at that moment I never should have left him to brood alone. If I had been there, perhaps I could have spotted the downward spiral before the pressure had snapped him.</p><p>“<em>Damn it, a witnessed confession to the act.” </em>The chief sighed. <em>“You placed him under arrest, I hope?”</em></p><p>I turned my back, unable to bear the sight of SWAT officer struggling to keep him from breaking loose. His wrists were cuffed behind his back, but he didn't seem to care. “Narihisago gave me no choice.”</p><p>“<em>That's a dreadful shame. Momoki, if you were first on duty to arrive, then the scene is yours. Finish up. Regretfully, we'll have to let internal affairs handle Narihisago.”</em></p><p>“Yes sir.” I hung up and turned back to find Narihisago still struggling against the SWAT team. I looked at the floor as I pointed, “Take him out to the wagon and secure him there so we can process the scene.”</p><p>As they dragged him kicking and screaming out the door, the last word I heard from him that day was, “Traitor!” I stood in that room, staring down at the bloody corpse beside the murder weapon … my partner's gun, asking myself who the real traitor was. Things never should have played out like this.</p><p>I didn't have long to ponder that as I drew back the curtain to the Challenger's basement fighting ring and discovered his still breathing victim. As irrational as Akihito's actions had been, he had triggered the alarm and disrupted Katsuyama from pounding the crap out of Kiki Asukai. Gripped in her hands I found a pair of blood-soaked brass knuckles, apparently to give her a fighting chance. The traumatized girl couldn't even walk as I carried her to the ambulance. She was so frail, and begging me to end her life.</p><p>As for Akihito Narihisago's fate … the trial wasn't what I would consider a trial. I only knew what happened because I had to provide the arrest record for internal affairs. He didn't even try to fight the charges. Immediately he plead guilty. From that moment it was all over. His previous outstanding achievements, the rising track of his career, his life … it was all stripped away. Everyone on the force detested him for his rogue actions. The chief banned his name from being spoken even when his old casework came up, they just said 'detective'. The department didn't want anyone to know what had happened. To the media, SWAT had been responsible for taking Katsuyama down when he resisted arrest. That was the <em>official</em> story.</p><p>I, on the other hand, didn't completely abandon him. As the arresting officer I had certain privileges. He was being held in maximum security, the main reason was to keep him well out of the public eye. According to prison protocol, visitors had to be on the other side of a separation pane. When I first saw him again, dressed in the brown prison jumpsuit and cuffed as they led him into the meeting booth, his eyes remained downcast. He refused to look up at me when I broke the silence. “If you ask me I don't think the sentence is fair.”</p><p>His hunched shoulders lifted and fell. His voice despirited, tinged with shame, “Life in prison. The judge said since I'm on the force … ” he cringed and corrected himself, “ … <em>was</em> on the force, I should have known better. It was my responsibility to maintain more control, and I seriously failed.”</p><p>“He's right, you should have. What came over you?” When he sat their staring down at his cuffed hands overlong, I leaned closer to the pane dividing us. “Talk to me.”</p><p>His gaze shifted up, the usually vibrant hue of his eyes cloudy. There was an odd tick, like he wanted to reach up and hold his head but the cuffs made that awkward. “I … I don't know. When I realized who the Challenger was nothing else mattered.”</p><p>“Nothing but breaking protocol!”</p><p>He shut his eyes at the rebuke. Once more his restless hands edged up in an aborted attempt before he rested them on the counter supporting the divider. “I couldn't stop it. It just … just overcame me.”</p><p>My hand came down hard on the counter startling him. “What overcame you? Seriously, you threw everything away with that reckless stunt.”</p><p>“You think I don't know that?” He stared at me through strands of hair. “You're not the one locked on this side.”</p><p>“Because I didn't lose my head and go in guns blazing like a maniac!”</p><p>He looked away, heat rising to his cheeks. “I'd … I'd do it again.”</p><p>“Don't say that! They wouldn't have wanted this! Not at this cost!”</p><p>Slowly, he leaned forward, bringing his head into the grip of his cuffed hands resting on the counter. “I'm sorry. I was just so … so … upset, I couldn't rein in my rage.”</p><p>“You sounded awfully collected on the phone.”</p><p>His fingers flexed, digging into his scalp. “I was anything but at that point. All I wanted to do was see him pay for what he did. I had to be the one to do it. To make him see how wrong he had been. I couldn't rest, I couldn't stop … when you tackled me it felt like I was suffocating. Not from the pressure, but because … it wasn't enough. He hadn't paid enough.”</p><p>“Not enough? You emptied a full mag into the guy! Most into his chest and one point blank shot straight through the center of his forehead. Clearly he was dead before he hit the floor. He couldn't feel a damn thing! There was no point.”</p><p>“It didn't matter.” He pleaded, lifting his head and pressing his hands against the pane, his eyes frantically blazed. “I had to finish it, Funetaro!”</p><p>My given name from his lips was a slap in the face. I held my hand out. “You've gone insane. I don't even know you anymore—Narihisago.”</p><p>I saw the fraction of a second when the intention of my words hit home. He recoiled and stared down at his shaking hands. His voice just a shuddering whisper, “What have I done? … Momoki … please … I don't understand what happened.”</p><p>I didn't either, and that's why the betrayal hurt so bad. I had lost my niece, my sister, and now my brother-in-law. The man who had been point of origin had died swiftly, a victim of Narihisago's devastating wrath. Even though at the moment I glimpsed the maelstrom eroding his sanity, I couldn't get past my own anger. I got up and walked out … not knowing that had been the last chance for a lucid conversation for some time.</p><p>A week later when my temper simmered down and I returned to Fuchu things were decidedly different. Narihisago's eyes twitched with a terrible restlessness as if glimpsing things that were not there. Understanding the rapid torrent of words spewing from him was difficult. I could not even hope to mimic it. His fingers fidgeted toward his head as he complained of knives slicing repeatedly, over and over and over. Blood in pools. Limbs twisted in horrific angles. More than once he clawed at his head practically screaming incoherently before I cut the visit short in an effort to catch his psychiatrist. When the guards dragged him away, the look in his eyes nearly killed me. Desperation, like a wounded animal backed into a corner.</p><p>To say the psychiatrist was highly concerned was an understatement. He showed me the scans, what a typical brain looked like with small patches of activity compared to how his brain looked like the blaze from an incendiary grenade. He had never seen anything like Narihisago's pathology before. It didn't match any of the known profiles. They had been forced to place him in strict isolation. The gentle man I had known as my brother-in-law was beyond hostile to the other inmates. He outright attacked two murderers and only because the guards intervened they managed to survive. Even on his own he was prone to fits. They figured most of it was due to hallucinations, a byproduct of his insomnia. He complained of strange visions, things he had never seen that seemed so real he could touch them—in some cases he had, it just turned out to be an unfortunate guard. Over the courses of my visits he got worse regardless of what they tried. Sedation had the absolute opposite effect of their goals. Rather than waking rested, he came out frenzied and even more paranoid.</p><p>One such visit he had been more active than usual. Trying to tell me something, at least it seemed that way because of the same starts of sentences over and over. Once again back to the slashing of knives. Frustrated because I couldn't follow him, he slammed his hands against the pane and met my eyes. Fear throbbed there as he cried out, “Save me!” But that move had been a bad one. The guards had been ready. Seizing him, they pressed him to the floor while he struggled at the sight of a syringe, begging for them not to do it. They plunged it deep into his shoulder muscle, near his neck. Within minutes his body lost all its tension. By the time they hauled him up from the floor, he wasn't completely sedated yet, just unable to fight them anymore. The sliver of his green eyes followed me in a panic as his words haunted me. I didn't know how to save him … no one did.</p><p>But that wasn't even the worst of it. Time after time I noted he'd been wounded. Bruises, scratches, scraps, nothing was serious. When I asked him, he would look around failing to meet my eyes and wouldn't answer. By this time getting anything coherent from him was nearly impossible. He was still confined to his own cell. So the only logical source was the guards.</p><p>My inquiry there lead to denial. They informed me that Narihisago was doing this to himself. I found that hard to swallow given how difficult they described handling him. A result of his deranged fits, he had assaulted several guards over the course. At this time he was still restless when we met. Rocking, twitching, jerking at figures that weren't there. His speech fast and unfocused, he rarely finished a sentence, starting another in the middle. But I still came.</p><p>Shamefully I admit all this time it wasn't out of loyalty … part of me was tracking the fate of the man who had failed to protect my beloved sister and niece. I had trusted him with my family. My hatred cooled as the months turned to years … the first year hadn't even passed fully when his frantic energy began to drain away. Behind the dividing pane I watched as Narihisago gradually withdrew. The floor claimed his gaze. Motions became extremely slow and deliberate over the erratic jerks he had once exhibited. He rarely spoke, even when I asked him a question. His spirit faded into an unbreakable melancholy. This state precluded the psychologist giving up on treatments. He was still prone to fits if something set him off, but between those, he was shiftless. The wounds still appeared at regular intervals. As he sat there barely existing, I truly felt sorry for him.</p><p>That was what drove me the moment I was offered the position of Wellside Director at Kura to recruit him. It was a gamble, as I hadn't heard him use any deductive reasoning in two years by that time. The day I went to offer him an out, they brought him into the booth like always. He was the most roughed up I'd seen, nail mark scratches all over. A sizable bruise on his forehead. Dark circles under his eyes. I swore the guards had to be beating him. As always the floor held his attention.</p><p>“Narihisago, can you listen to me for a bit? This is really important. I have to talk to you about this new department the force is launching, one of the other department chiefs has been put in charge and he recruited me. It's highly experimental involving some new technology that will hopefully allow us to locate serial killers. I've been promoted to head part of this and my new chief has asked me to locate recruits for the pilots.” He wasn't looking at me, just sat slumped in the chair staring idly at his cuffed hands. I wasn't even certain he was listening. This next part wasn't a lie. “The first I thought of was you. Kura has its own facility, and while you'd still be a prisoner there, if you're compatible with the machine, we'd be working together. You'd be helping me … as some what of a detective again.”</p><p>Slowly, his dead gaze drifted up to meet my eyes. “I'll do it.”</p><p>I swallowed deep at the hollowness of his voice. Instantly I wondered if anything I knew before lingered inside that shell of a human being anymore. Even as I went to the warden to arrange his transfer, I doubted my decision. Especially after he injured himself in his cell the first day and I learned the Fuchi prison guards had been telling the terrible truth. Narihisago's fits led to acts of self-mutilation. While Kura finalized the setup, my terrible doubt lingered. Was there even a shred of him left?</p><p>Doubt. Until … the first moment he woke in the id well as the brilliant detective, Sakaido.</p><p>Two years in prison, in strict isolation with only his tortured thoughts to keep him company had honed his passion for rooting out the truth into a highly driven weapon. Unfortunately, it also left him crippled by a terrifying psychosis … the irresistible urge to use his intuition to mentally tear serial killers apart by the only means he could reach them, his voice …</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Funetaro took a drink to moisten his throat after the lengthy telling. “Still, his transfer to Kura has only marginally changed his conscious demeanor. He's still largely withdrawn, and prone to outbursts. And with each new case I have to remind myself what we're harnessing every time he steps into that cockpit. That sometimes we need darkness to show us the light.”</p><p>Sarina glanced at the photo that triggered the storytelling. The cheery smile looked so foreign compared to the subdued man she had met. “It's beyond sad. You'll never see the partner you once knew. He's truly gone.”</p><p>“No … ,” Funetaro held up the memento, “he actually isn't.”</p><p>She squinted and suddenly realized where she had seen the likeness before. Exactly like that. “Sakaido! The version in the wells is … ”</p><p>He nodded, touching the photo fondly. “<em>Almost</em> him.”</p><p>“That's why … why you use him so much. To see him work again.” Her smile twisted as her eyes widened and jaw slackened. “But that means when he dies in the well … oh, Narihisago may have accepted that as part of the process, but for you … you always worry about him. What about seeing your partner's old personality repeatedly murdered? Are <b>you</b> okay with that?”</p><p>Funetaro took a deep breath, setting the old wedding photo aside. “I have to convince myself every time that this is better for the both of us even with that … unfortunate detail. I can't say it's easy watching that happen. And I know he says it doesn't bother him, but his judgment will always be in question now. He told me once that neither one of us has a choice in where we stand now. And he couldn't be more correct. The real Akihito Narihisago, before the trauma that scarred him, exists only within the Mizuhanome …” he paused and held up a finger, “no, within Asukai's telepathic projections. Proof the man I once knew does still exist. If there were a way to fuse that, to draw that part of him out, restore his impulse control so he could resist that urge to kill … perhaps with the proof he was more or less framed, he could be released and have a life again.”</p><p>Sarina cocked her head. “Is that even possible?”</p><p>“I don't know” Funetaro took her hand. “But I am compelled to explore that option. We don't comprehend the full extent of what we are working with. At least now that we know aren't being kept in the dark we have more freedom to unlock the Mizuhanome's secrets.”</p><p>Her brow furrowed. “You promised Asukai you would release her, find a way to free her from the pain of her existence. But without the Mizuhanome there would be no way to reach Sakaido … Narihisago. One sacrifice for the other. There is no current way to free both of them.”</p><p>Funetaro rubbed his eyes. “I don't even want to think about having to make that decision … I don't know that I have the mettle to be able to. At the moment the isn't a viable solution for either one. And that … that is what plagues me.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>~ID~</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The bed creaked as Narihisago rolled over to face the wall. Reaching his arm back, he grabbed the corner of his pillow and wedged it against his ear, hard!</p><p>If anyone needed a sedative it was Hase. Hell, they'd pumped Narihisago full of enough of that shit, surely they had plenty to go around. Since he'd regained enough energy Araya had pulled the IV earlier in the day and left him on his own. No longer drugged into a listless haze, he was subjected to the endless rantings of the man confined in the cell across the block. He could barely hear his own thoughts over the circular illogic. Each sentence like a hammer striking a resounding knell inside his skull. Only one way to silence that!</p><p>“All a game.” Hase prattled on. “Ichirou, you said it was a just a game between kids when you did it. Just playing predator and prey. Precious, perfect Ichirou could do no wrong. Just like innocent little Noa. Father and Mother, everyone listened to you. Even Noa did as she held me down and you cut me. Again and again.” His voice dissolved into a cackle. “Who is laughing now? I taught you. I taught all of you in your language! The power of the mark. I should thank you. Really. Because of you I learned how to achieve greatness. How to rise to the top. To overcome the scars!”</p><p>It burned within his chest. A sensation similar to oxygen deprivation. No amount of deep breathing quelled it. Narihisago winced against it, his fingers clawed at the bed sheet under the building waves. This fool thought he was wise? No! He needed to be taught a real lesson. His wretched view of the world needed to be shattered. Buried for all time. This vile thing needed to be silenced—forever.</p><p>The more Narihisago resisted, the stronger the waves tore at him, ripping his precarious hold on reason.</p><p>He didn't even recall rolling over. Couldn't remember when he sat up on the edge of his bed, leaning on his elbows. Narrow eyes locked onto the piece of shit murderer pacing in his own cell like a basal beast. It wouldn't take any contact to ease his own suffering.</p><p>His fingernails bit into his skin through the fabric of his jumpsuit, still fighting an ever losing battle to resist. <em>This is wrong, this isn't my place to do this. </em></p><p>The urge slashed at him again, stealing his breath. <em>Hase shouldn't get off so easy. How many cried for mercy to feed his twisted inferiority complex? Why should he continue to waste oxygen? One murder is too many, and Narihisago, you </em><em><b>know</b></em><em> it was well more than that. More than the siblings who started this. He deserves to feel what he forced others to. He deserves a taste of your gift … open his eyes to his malignant core as only you can do. Don't you want relief? Do it and you'll be at peace again. Resist and … </em></p><p>He bowed his head as it crawled through his veins. Not quite pain, but something verging on it. All he had to do was …</p><p>
  <em>Dismantle him!</em>
</p><p>Narihisago's harsh eyes snapped open. His voice a mere whisper, “So, you let a childish mark define you.”</p><p>Hase paused, mid stride. He came to the pane of his cell and pressed his hands against it. The collar of his white jumpsuit fell open enough to reveal the four raked scars along the side of his neck reaching down onto his chest. Even from here Narihisago could tell they hadn't been life threatening deep when they had occurred. But they had stretched, proof he'd grown since the incident with his siblings. Hase's sick deluded eyes studied him. “So, you're finally awake. Someone to talk to.”</p><p>“In a manner of speaking.” Narihisago shrugged, already the irritating itch abating through his commitment to scratching it. “Not so certain you will benefit from that.”</p><p>“The guards don't listen here.” Hase pointed down the hall.</p><p>“Suppose not. They have a job to do, not engaging in self indulgent rantings.”</p><p>Hase jerked his head back. “Self indulgent? You don't understand.”</p><p>The laugh was hollow, dripping with bitterness. “They all say that. They never have any clue how much I really understand. In a few minutes they change their minds … and then … well, then they end it all.”</p><p>“I showed them. All of them. All the shallow little wannabes.” His hands pounded the pane. “I restored the proper order and took my rightful place.”</p><p>“Number one, right?”</p><p>“Yes.” He held his finger up over his head, staring at it reverently. “I am number one!”</p><p>Narihisago flashed a cold smile. “Saburo …<em> the third son</em>. By your very name you will <b>never </b>be number one in their eyes. The only eyes that really mattered.”</p><p>Hase's eyes flashed wide. “Tsh!”</p><p>“Did killing Ichirou, the first son, really change that? Your name still marks you more than a scar ever will. Isn't that a shame they never saw any of you as more than a birth placement. An unbreakable ranking.”</p><p>Hasty footsteps thundered down the hall. The door to Narihisago's cell slid open as Soma and Hagashi rushed in and wrestled him unceremoniously to the floor. Narihisago thrashed wildly as Hagashi cuffed his hands behind his back, forcing him to the ground by a knee to the small of his back. When he threw his head back shouting, his words were cut off by a gag held tight by Soma's hand against the nape of his neck.</p><p>Another set of guards raced across the hall. Soma barked out to them, “Move Hase, now! I hope the hell he didn't get too far. Damn it, Narihisago, knock it off! I don't want to hurt you.”</p><p>The gag didn't cut off air, but it may as well have. Locked in silence it now welled up like a dammed river threatening to drown him. A cold sweat broke out. His eyes dilated. And that knee against his back? He realized in the wave of intense pain, was pressing the still healing gun shot wound into the ground.</p><p>Soma glanced back down as he clenched his eyes. “Hagashi, get your knee off of him, you idiot!”</p><p>“Oh shit!”</p><p>The moment the pressure released, Narihisago sagged into the gag. Hot tears stung the corners of his eyes as he watched the only release from his torment being escorted away, escaping his grasp. Did Soma know how long this would last now? The hours he would now spend shivering in the corner as this unreleased urge clawed him apart.</p><p>“Easy.” Soma kept a tight hold none-the-less, and for good reason. This shit wasn't over by a long shot. “Why are you sweating? You're not even fighting us that hard.”</p><p>Why ask a question he couldn't answer while gagged?</p><p>Hagashi kept a firm grip on the cuffs. “I'm tellin' yah. Seen shit like this before. Looks like a crack addict in withdrawal.”</p><p>Soma glared back. “This is a tight security area. How the hell would he get a hold of that?”</p><p>“Just saying, I encountered one. Swear it looks the same.”</p><p>“Well, regardless,” Soma met Narihisago's frantic stare, “whatever this crap is, you really can't help it can you?”</p><p>As much as he could, he shook his head.</p><p>“Shit! I didn't expect an answer.” Soma looked over his shoulder. “Ok, they're clear. We can let him go. Get to the door quick once you got him uncuffed.”</p><p>The moment Soma and Hagashi released the restraints and let him go, Narihisago scrambled toward the corner clutching his knees to his chest and shivering. This didn't just go away when the target was removed. They had just sentenced him to waiting out the raging storm.</p><p>Outside his cell, Soma shook his head. “I'm sorry, but we just can't let that happen again. Momoki … he gets really upset, you know.”</p><p>He rested his head on his knees. Their footsteps receded down the hall leaving him alone … always alone. He shut his eyes and tried to ease the internal torrent … it was going to be a long miserable night just trying to convince himself he wasn't drowning.</p><p>The next morning he awoke to the lights already on. No one had shouted for him to get up like usual. When he rolled over Soma stood outside, smiling. “Hey, I think I have a solution.”</p><p>What was he talking about? Slowly, Narihisago sat up.</p><p>Soma moved aside and gestured to the cell across the way. An occupant in the bed hooked up to machines. Narihisago narrowed his eyes. He knew that lanky silhouette. “Fukuda?”</p><p>Soma nodded. “Yup. I asked for clearance to shift him here. The machines feed info to them anyway, so they can follow if there's any changes. He's been stable enough. I figured, there's no way even you could talk a guy in a coma to his death.”</p><p>Narihisago walked to the pane of his cell, a half smile on his face. Man, it was good to see him. There wasn't a damn inkling to end him. And he knew, even if Fukuda were awake, there wouldn't be. Fukuda may have been one twisted son of a bitch, but at his core he'd been trying to fix people, not kill them. For some reason that was enough to evade the trigger. “We've already been down that path … and I refused.”</p><p>
  <em>Thank you, Soma, for being perceptive enough to actually help. </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Chapter 21</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Narihisago knew this room well. After most dives, once Kura had the serial killer in custody and the processing complete Momoki would have him escorted here for a little one-on-one. Usually that happened pretty quickly.</p><p>Usually he hadn't been knocked flat on his ass for several days.</p><p>Resting his cuffed hands on the table where they were in full view for the peace of mind of the guards, he stared at the bruise on his arm from the IV. Something to focus on while he waited for Momoki to enter. Something to take his mind off the damn near miss … he hoped that wasn't why he'd been brought here, but if that was the case he was usually taken straight to solitary. Anyway, he truly felt much better, especially after he'd had enough energy to take a damn shower.</p><p>The door opened, he didn't look up. Years of incarceration had ingrained him to be as non-threatening as possible. Not that Momoki would misread anything, it was the blasted jumpy guards. Hrm, not that they didn't have a point. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.</p><p>“Good morning.” That was not the voice he'd been expecting. He slowly shifted his gaze up to find Hondomachi armed with a tablet and the most nauseatingly cheerful mood. “You're looking like you're feeling better. I heard the last couple of days were rough.”</p><p>He blinked half-lidded eyes. “If I could remember them, but frankly, past the dive … ” He lifted a shoulder. “I've been sedated rather thoroughly and don't remember a damn thing.” Fortunately a dreamless one. The doc had done something right.</p><p>She tapped her cheek and smiled. “Must be why your eyes aren't so tired today. Finally got enough sleep?”</p><p>He sighed, impatient to get to the reason for this. “Alright, I know the doctor was mad at Momoki, is that why it's you? Araya won't let him see me yet?”</p><p>Confusion creased her eyes. “Uh no. I just thought I'd stop by since you were cleared for visitors and fill you in on what happened. We got Saburo Hase.”</p><p>“Believe me, I know. He wouldn't shut up.” Narihisago bowed his head. “And that lead to a bit of an altercation, which could have ended worse had Soma not intervened.”</p><p>Cocking her head, she laid the tablet out on the table between them. “Oh yeah. I never thought about the fact you're actually locked up with them. Aren't you.”</p><p>He rolled his eyes.</p><p>She giggled. “Sorry, that was particularly silly of me not to realize. I mean, I don't think of you as anything but a colleague.”</p><p>That brought him up a short. “You really mean that?”</p><p>“Of course.” She offered him a bright smile. “You are a brilliant detective, after all.”</p><p>He was at a loss for words. Certainly Momoki still thought of him as a colleague, albeit a subordinate these days. But he had convinced himself that most of the others in the Wellside, and any others that knew of his existence, thought of him as the pariah he was.</p><p>“Anyway, we managed to get to the park in time to stop him mid act from getting Yume Oishi, that woman in the id well. Thought you'd want to know that after they treated a few minor scrapes, she was released from the hospital and is doing … ok. Still a bit shook up and probably won't go jogging again any time soon. But she is alive.”</p><p>That brought a smile to his face. A genuine one. “I had a feeling something about that last dive was real time.”</p><p>“Something else kind of cool.” She pulled up a photo of the tree in the park. “Look familiar?” A flick of her finger and the well screen grab came up in a side by side.</p><p>His eyes darted back and forth, he leaned forward over the tablet. Cherry blossoms. In the midst of racing against a leopard in that sweltering jungle he hadn't had the time to ponder the symbolism of taking refuge under the blossoms. “Life, death, renewal … a reminder to pay attention to the transient nature of life. Huh, what do you know. So, that's how you found her?”</p><p>“Yup. The weeping cherry tree you ran to. Without that we never would have guessed which park. Which means you really are amazing to find this critical clue considering how far down this was in the well.”</p><p>“I just gather the data. It's the Wellside crew that found that.”</p><p>She crossed her arms. “But we wouldn't have been there on time without you trying to rescue her in the first place.”</p><p><em>You.</em> There was no overlooking it. Not Sakaido … but <em>you</em>, as if they were one and the same, inseparable.</p><p>The door opened and Momoki walked in throwing a curious glance to Hondomachi. The moment he looked toward Narihisago his eyes fell to the floor. Trying to cover, he cleared his throat. “I didn't quite expect to be beaten to the case discussion. Have you told him everything?”</p><p>Hondomachi placed a finger to her lips. “Mmm pretty much.”</p><p>“Well … I know it won't be everything.” Momoki shifted, trying to lift his gaze and failing. At last he took a deep breath and muttered, “I am sorry, Narihisago. I forgot about your condition when you entered that dive. No. That's not even the full truth … I'm sorry for the way I treated you the entire case.”</p><p>“What are you apologizing for?” Narihisago gestured to the tablet the moment Momoki looked up. He knew he hadn't quite reverted back to the full emotional atrophy. There was still some inflection left to his voice for the moment due to the gradual weening off the painkillers, not as much as right before the dive. He was feeling good, but not <b>that</b> good. “You got the guy in time to save his victim. There is nothing to apologize for.”</p><p>He inhaled and held it for a moment. “But … my decision left you in critical condition.”</p><p>“Your decision meant one less death on his list. You know me, Momoki. Don't ever question that again. If time is on the line and precious minutes are needed, I'll be pissed if you pull me. My life is meaningless compared to theirs.”</p><p>His eyes creased with pain. “Don't say that.”</p><p>Both his hands came off the table as he pointed with one finger. “That there? That's the pointless guilt talking.”</p><p>Hondomachi leaned back on her chair, her hand covering the hole in her head. “I don't think either of you really want to talk about this.”</p><p>Narihisago nodded. “The last thing I want is a shred of wasteful pity.”</p><p>Slowly, Momoki wandered toward the table, a smile grew at the images of the case file, his hands shifted restlessly at his side. “This was a real piece of work.”</p><p>“You're telling me.” Narihisago leaned back a touch. “Despite not dying in it, that last dive was a brutal grind.”</p><p>“What a great success though.” Hondomachi narrowed her eyes. “I know! That's what we need. A celebratory drink.”</p><p>Narihisago lifted a finger, the gesture looking odd with his cuffed hands. “Uhh, Hondomachi, you do know there's a huge problem with that idea.”</p><p>Momoki's face fell into his palm. “No alcohol permitted in the cell blocks.”</p><p>She started for a moment. “No drinking? <em>Ever?</em> Bummer.”</p><p>“Tell me about it.” Narihisago slumped. “It's been over three years since I've had a drop. Not that I was a heavy drinker.”</p><p>“No kidding.” Momoki snorted a laugh. “You were the lightweight of the force. I never knew that extent til the night we placed Drunken I Spy.”</p><p>Clearing his throat, Narihisago cocked an eyebrow. “Drunken I Spy <b>Tag</b>, which was why we got in so much trouble. Ugh, I only remember parts of that night. Oh, and how angry Matsuoka was afterward.”</p><p>At the mention of his name, Hondomachi leaned forward eagerly. “Do tell.”</p><p>“Narihisago, you don't remember much because you were completely sloshed by the time we left the bar. We'd been celebrating the closing of a case, don't even remember which one. But, I do remember it was your suggestion to add the tag element.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, that was my stupid idea … to guess you had to touch the object. I dunno, it seemed so simple at the time. I never imagined it would have gotten quite so competitively out of hand.” He snickered. “Matsuoka was the one who went out on that construction crane!”</p><p>“That was your damn clue that led him up there. You could have told him he was wrong.” Momoki hung his head. “The chief spent the next week clearing up all the trespassing charges of that drunken escapade.”</p><p>“Matsuoka claimed he was abducted in the office.”</p><p>“Really? Well you had the gall to try and claim that couldn't have been you because the tie was the wrong color. You were still wearing the same one!”</p><p>“Hey, give me a break, I'd had a hangover. I wasn't exactly quick-witted at the time. We wouldn't have had half of those charges if Shingi hadn't been filming it. The only sober one in the bunch, and he had to hand it over to the chief.”</p><p>“That's cause he was forced to.”</p><p>He stared at the ceiling and laughed. “A week's demotion to beat duty. Never thought we'd be wearing <b>that</b> uniform again. Was lucky it still fit. We got off easy when you think about it.”</p><p>“And you never drank that much again.”</p><p>“Wasn't because of the temp demotion. Ayako made me sleep on the couch.” A bit of heat burned on his cheeks. “I had to hand it to her, she wanted to make certain I learned that lesson—she made sure to be extra loud the next morning. That was the only day she used the coffee grinder.”</p><p>“Your wife wasn't the only upset spouse.”</p><p>Narihisago narrowed an eye. “Momoki, I just thought about this … do you ever think that's one of the reasons Matsuoka's still so tetchy with me?”</p><p>Momoki rubbed his chin. “Maybe. He was really pissed about that. Groused about it for weeks because the video kept circulating with you laughing in the background like a hyena as he hung from the crane groping for that flag. The look on his face when you told him he was wrong. What was it you'd said?”</p><p>“If I remember it correctly, 'Nice try, Sherlock, but this isn't capture the flag.' I think the reason we got in trouble for that one was he ripped their safety flag.”</p><p>Dissolved into all out laughter, Hondomachi nearly hiccuped as she managed to get out a question, “I have to see that! Is that footage still around somewhere?”</p><p>In unison they replied firmly, “No.”</p><p>There was something about her presence. Even as she whined to Momoki about not being to able to see the video of them being young, stupid drunk off-duty detectives, she had an uplifting energy that Narihisago felt starved for. He couldn't even find the words, so he just sat there and savored the moment. His interactions were usually just business and not much more. Never a nostalgic skip down memory lane.</p><p>He smiled, able to forget for a while the cuffs that kept this from being anything close to normal. For a brief moment he could pretend there were no barriers. Relaxed and fully engaged. They were just co-workers hanging out after a tough case … like he used to do … once upon a time.</p><p>Out of the blue it struck like a flame searing behind his eyes. The room blotted out of existence as a blinding flash replaced it. He tasted fear to the vision of a knife stabbing down. An agonized scream rent the air, drowning out their voices. Droplets of blood hung twisting in mid air as the blade dragged back for another strike.</p><p>Disoriented, he felt his own body curl forward, forehead falling into his hands. The echo of his strained whimpers seemed so very distant, and yet he felt them leave his own throat.</p><p>Momoki's panicked voice reached him. “What's going on? We need a medic.”</p><p>“No!” Narihisago gasped, forcing his eyes open. The wretched wave already passing. He released the death grip on head. “No. Don't … they've never been able to affect these … I told you the barrier was critical.”</p><p>He knelt nearby, eyes creased with worry. “Hallucinations?”</p><p>He shuddered, still fighting the double reality. The scream he had heard before … Momoki was the reality. He clung to the voice. “They never stopped … once it all started … they came. Again and again and again! I had them buffered … until … until they dented it. The painkillers … the sedatives. Sedatives make it worse, allowed it in. Harder to fight, harder to know what's tangible.” Narihisago opened his eyes and gazed at the worried pair of visitors. “It's passing now.”</p><p>“Why didn't you tell me?”</p><p>“It's not like you could ever do anything. But … I tried.” He hunched over the cuffs. “Back in those days it was so difficult to get anything out that made sense. I could hardly make sense of my own thoughts, so of course I couldn't reach you. The only refuge from the chaotic madness was numbness. The barrier.”</p><p>Momoki straightened. “You did it to yourself? You made the choice to embrace apathy. Why?”</p><p>“I hope you never have reason enough to understand.” Narihisago closed his eyes. “What options does a wolf in an abandoned leg trap have? To linger and die … or to chew his own leg off to relieve the agony? The sacrifice was essential … for survival.”</p>
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<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Chapter 22</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ripples of water spread out from his ankles, colliding and disrupting patterns to form new ones. Narihisago wasn't even moving, just standing still staring down at his bare feet submerged in the calm blue waters. The subtle waves lapped up, nearly catching the rolled cuffs of his jumpsuit roughly halfway down his calves.</p><p>Water, or some water-like substance, was an odd sight. Had his cell flooded? He glanced at his black shirt, the long sleeves of his jumpsuit tied around his waist, the white prisoner identification bracelet on his right wrist. He looked normal enough for reality.</p><p>But how could this be real?</p><p>He wiggled his toes and watched the ripples build again. There was no doubt, this was new. The action disrupted his refection. What a sad sight that was. He had not aged well these last three years. His hair hung down in limp stands, stubble darkened his chin out of neglect. Lines betrayed a face that had forgotten how to smile with any sincerity. His eyes … once a vibrant jade were tarnished with shadows … haunted, hollow. There was a time he would have stood tall, shoulders back with his head held high. Now he slumped forward, eyes downcast, movements slow and measured. The embodiment of shame.</p><p>His hand brushed the shirt. No bandage beneath. He tugged it up, peering at his bare skin. All that remained was a scar. This … this couldn't be real. Moments ago as he closed his eyes he had felt the residual ache of the still healing wound bound in bandages.</p><p>More ripples collided with his, disrupting his refection, mixing with another. By reflex and conditioning he lifted his head slowly, as sudden motions from inmates often resulted in being roughly manhandled into the unforgiving concrete. He'd had plenty of experiences with that after episodes of losing his shit, especially prior to the transfer to Kura. A young woman stood in the vast shallow pool dressed in a body suit of white and gray patches, glowing electronic green probes scattered over it in symmetrical patterns. Long raven hair flowed down her shoulders, framing her whole body. He met her eyes, calming deep, forest green.</p><p>He had stared into them countless times before when the gaze was lifeless. But this was not Kaeru. This was the young woman he'd spoken to in the well within a well. Narihisago took in a deep breath before he found his voice enough to utter the truth. “Kiki Asukai.”</p><p>She moved with the grace of a deer, coming to a stop at a purposeful distance. If they both reached out, their fingers could touch. But their hands remained at their sides. “Akihito Narihisago.”</p><p>“Do I dare ask … ” he glanced around at the vast shallow pool illuminated in blue from below, there was not much more to this place, the edges seemed to evaporate into the nothing, “ … if this is real?”</p><p>She kept her eyes fixed on him without blinking. “I think you've already deduced the truth of that, Akihito.” Bowing her head slightly, she added, “May I call you that? Akihito?”</p><p>He took a few breaths letting this all sink in. How was she doing this? Of course it wasn't real. But this wasn't a standard dream. Somehow this was … this was happening without the Mizuhanome.</p><p>No... she <b> was </b> the Mizuhanome. This was merely happening without the cockpit. Somehow she had targeted just him in the middle of the night, summoning his consciousness into her own. Her question played on the edges of his thoughts, he nodded slowly. “I think we know each other well enough for our given names, Kiki.” In that fuller sentence the echoes came back. His head jerked up … there were inflections … tones that had previously been striped away, aside from the brief window the painkillers had allowed them to surface. This surpassed even that phase, a vibrancy that <b> he </b> thought he no longer possessed.</p><p>A flicker of a smile formed. She placed a hand to her chest near the glowing probes. “Don't worry. You are safe to feel here. I know it seems strange after so long. I can sense your apprehension. But that terrible urge can't reach you here.”</p><p>Dead alive. He'd been numb for years now, suppressing everything possible to insulate himself from the searing agony. Opening up to that seemed impossible … like the first steps on wasted muscles after being bed ridden. Everything was hesitant. “Where is here?”</p><p>She raised her hand and gestured around the room. “Where we have been for the past year. We are both dangers to the world. You and I are both prisoners in the same building, one neither of us can ever be released from. I have sensed your presence since they brought you here. Now, I am getting stronger.”</p><p>He cleared his throat. “Obviously. This has never happened.”</p><p>“Things are different now, I couldn't do this before. When Momoki put me back in there are protocols that he missed, ones that … ” she paused and trembled for a moment, fear blazed in her eyes, “ … <em>he</em> used to control the tether.”</p><p>Akihito's fist pumped at this side. A twinge tugged in his chest. She wasn't referring to Momoki, but to that vile bastard Hayaseura.</p><p>“I reached out to you before over the years. But I fear I made things worse.”</p><p>His hand came up to his forehead, eyes shut tight against the flood of memories. “The flashes, the images, all those vivid nightmares … ” again it seemed so strange to hear emotion in his voice echoing back, “just like the hospital … in the well within a well. That was you, here … in reality.”</p><p>“But I had no way of explaining my projections to you.” She clasped her hands in front of her, looking down into the ripples of water. “That was my haphazard attempt to contact you. Ever since I became aware of you … when he first used me to invade your subconscious, I knew … I knew you were different than the others. Please understand, I was desperate, frightened of what he was doing. I had no one else I could even try to reach out to. I never meant to hurt you.”</p><p>He took a step forward, his hand rising but he couldn't commit to the full motion to touch her. Too many years of being stripped of any agency by the prison system hobbled him. “Believe me, I know. The overwhelming panic in relentless waves … ”</p><p>Her cheeks flushed. “ … were all projections from me.”</p><p>His breath caught in his chest.</p><p>“That was never you, never from your own mind. That's why nothing worked to stop them from battering you.” She twisted her foot in the pool of water sending out ripples that washed against his bare skin. “I didn't know you were unable to act. My efforts to reach out to you only caused you to wall your emotions away to protect yourself from the onslaught. I am truly sorry. But my apology is only one reason I have brought you into my dream, Akihito. You need to know the full truth that no one has revealed to you.”</p><p>He narrowed his eyes trying to work out where this was going, but her calm expression revealed nothing … until she shut her eyes and reopened them, filled to the brim with discomfort.</p><p>“I know what <em>he</em> did to you.”</p><p>His breath caught in his chest. “You do?” His pulse raced at the potential. “Tell me.”</p><p>She bowed her head. “When you are conscious in the real world. What do you feel?”</p><p>“Nothing most of them time, just perpetually numb.” That wasn't precisely true. There was one thing … one core emotion he'd been utterly incapable of banishing. “But when I do … ” He tapped the vein, the torrent rushed through him, a destructive flood. Clenching his eyes, he growled. “Anger! … followed by,” he winced, this never made sense but it was undeniable, “ … pleasure.”</p><p>She nodded slowly. “That was his work. He carved it into your subconscious with his knife.”</p><p>He stumbled backward, grabbing his head as he remembered the searing anguish of a blade, slicing … slicing … slicing … “No! Those sensations! They were … ”</p><p>“Echos of his invasion after the damage had been done. I'm sorry. He got to you because of me, through me. The moment that the contact was made I felt the intention of the vulgar sin of his work. I raged against him, but you know his power. He bent me to his will, forcing his access to your subconscious.” She took a deep breath. “He knew what he was doing when he mutilated your emotions. When he made you addicted to that anger like a drug … cold or flaming hot, your rage would have the same result in a twisted chain that can never be severed.”</p><p>He bowed his head, fists flexing. “So … I am stuck … a slave to this repulsive urge.”</p><p>She nodded. “You will never be able to resist, the scars are too deep. The instinct as deep as the need to breathe. When the trigger is right … you will succumb. No treatment, no cure, no one can heal the scars he left. I'm so sorry.”</p><p>His brow furrowed as he fought to suppress the surge. There was no point, he could not reach John Walker … no, Hayaseura, where they sent him. “Kiki, you have nothing to apologize for. You didn't do this to me. You were abused, just like I was.”</p><p>“That isn't all.” She held her hand to her chest. “I am the reason he did it to you.”</p><p>He opened his eyes and stiffened. The clues beginning to align for the first time. “Three years ago … Denshin Katsuyama had kidnapped you before Momoki found you. How long had it been?”</p><p>“He'd kidnapped me and held me in secret for well over a week. But that did not stop the man you knew as John Walker from reaching me through his machine. He was afraid Katsuyama would kill me in an effort to fill his urges in a place where the pain and consequences were real. The dreams were no longer enough for him. My death would have severed John Walker's connection. He would have lost everything … so he made certain that would not happen. He triggered you.”</p><p>Akihito touched his forehead. “No … oh no. That's the reason … one gigantic string of manipulations. The Challenger grabbed Muku to give me motive.”</p><p>She grabbed her arm and nodded.</p><p>“Hayaseura sacrificed her to set me up to charge in so you would be recovered before you could be killed. He butchered my psyche to make sure it all happened. How could he! Now I'm stuck like this, unable to resist this damn addiction!”</p><p>“It isn't fair to you. That urge does not belong to you, yet it will chain you for the rest of your life. Your heart is still pure. It's why you struggle to function. They are at odds with one another in a crippling battle. And I wish I knew the way to free you from that defiling scar … but I can no more do that than stop my own powers from damaging others. You have seen what happens when I am not confined in this chamber.” She gestured to the pool. “You have witnessed the devastation.”</p><p>“The comatose … do know how to you wake them?”</p><p>She shook her head. “No more than I can fix you. At least not yet. I am exploring my abilities.” Tentatively she stepped closer. “It's selfish of me … but … there's another reason I reached so desperately to you those months I was in the hospital outside of his immediate control.”</p><p>Akihito's tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, dry as the desert he knew formed his subconscious. “Those first agonizing months I was imprisoned … the insane visions that plagued me … ”</p><p>“I sensed your true nature. You fought bitterly against the wound's poison. Unlike the others who embraced and allied with his meddling, you raged against the savage grip. You proved it inside your own well where the scar cannot reach you … Fukuda. You refused to give in and end the life of a man, even in a well dive, who was driven to misguidedly help fix others. Fukuda is also different … but I can't reach him like you.” Her fingers brushed against his shirt, her palm flattened on his chest over his heart. “Your true drive is still intact inside you … to be husband, father, … protector.”</p><p>The tears stung his eyes. He cringed as the pain struck him. The air was too thin, his breathing came in desperate gasps. “But … I failed them.”</p><p>“Through no fault of your own.” Her other hand traced the path of his tears, the finger drawing his face down toward hers. He opened his eyes to find his arms around her shoulders. She placed her hand on his cheek. “You always came for me without fail. I felt so safe when you appeared. The only one dedicated to the resolution in such hopeless dream-scapes. No one else has the strength to reach me here in the darkness … only you.”</p><p>“But I … ”</p><p>Her voice hitched, she forced the words out as her hands shook. “In my life before this stasis everyone abandoned me or betrayed me, even my own parents … that was when I was free as a living breathing human being. Here, I was already dead to your eyes, but that changed nothing. You still repeatedly endured the hazards of my ability time and time again. Driven not by the mark he shackled you with, but by who you truly are.”</p><p>In his arms she relaxed into his hold, like a child … like Muku. The pang struck and vibrated through him, starved for human affection in any form. He rested his head on Kiki's as she clung to him. Father … that is what he felt like in this embrace. What he should have been. Where he should be now … instead of in isolation. The denial of his true life threatened to bring him to his knees. His silent tears dampened her hair.</p><p>“You are not a crippled beast, Akihito. But like me, we both dwell in a delicate balance.” Kiki lifted her head. “No matter how deep you dive, you cannot save me from here. And I cannot heal you in the waking world. We are bound here in the only place designed to hold us in any state close to functioning.”</p><p>He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the knot remained in his chest. “Somehow I have known that all along. Only through this am I allowed a path out of this miserable limbo, a wretched purpose. If you were freed from Kura I would be truly trapped without even a temporary respite from the monotony … as vile as my task is.”</p><p>Still clinging to him she nodded her head, hair brushing against his bare arms. “It's true … my release would condemn you to no purpose. Within my projections is the only place your balance is restored.”</p><p>Sighing he gripped her shoulders and held her back so she looked up, her eyes trembled. “Don't you think about me. If there ever is a way out for you, take it. I have already resigned myself to my fate.”</p><p>A tear dripped down her cheek. “Your truth is showing.” She curled back against his chest. “Please, I … I don't know how much longer I can hold your consciousness here. Let me steal this for a moment longer, Akihito. It's been so long since I have felt … truly … safe.”</p><p>Closing his grip, he held her tight, shutting his eyes. He couldn't admit how much he needed it too. The sensation pierced deep enough that if he let go of her now he feared suffocation. The life of a pariah meant near total isolation … if he was honest, it gutted him.</p><p>“I want to do something for you … I know you miss them terribly … ”</p><p>“No.” He shuddered. That answer came so fast, but he knew it was right. “That would be torment seeing what I can't have.” He looked down into her eyes and smiled. “Let me protect you … as my … daughter.” The contact, even just within this brief dream-scape, that was what he craved. To feel something he had locked away so long ago.</p><p>The proof that he was still human after all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed my playing around in ID: Invaded's sandbox. This looks to become a world I will be writing future explorations in as I am already collecting more ideas incorporating a few of the characters that this plot either didn't let me spend much time with, or that I didn't get to touch on at all. I hope you'll join me for those forays as well!</p>
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